Silvers Star
by Silver Sneasel
Summary: Silver and Keri had been seperated for almost six years, Silver forced to work for team rocket, but finally making his escape into the Almia region. You can never really escape though, becuase the past is catching up, and a new threat is near.
1. Chapter 1

Hello. For those of you who have just clicked on this, going over the stories in the 'just in' section, this is the sequel to my previous fan fiction, Silvers Kiss. I highly suggest you read that before reading this, because you won't have any clue what is happening otherwise. For those of you who have already read Silvers Kiss and have been waiting patiently for this first chapter, Enjoy.

SILVER STAR

CHAPTER ONE

Annie waved Keri over, a newspaper in her hand. Keri rolled her eyes, walking over to say hello to the woman. She had that look on her face… "Annie, it's a nice day today."

"Yes… I've been meaning to talk to you for quite some time now, that boy of yours, I'm worried about you. He doesn't look like good news, you should be careful around him." She waved towards the house…

Keri had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, the woman had only seen him once, yesterday while she was walking home. Annie was around seventy years old, she supposed Silver would have been that boy you didn't even consider talking to… especially since he'd had his shirt off. Keri took a deep breath, and busted into giggles anyway, Silver was walking down the street… Thank goodness, he was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans.

"Good morning." His expression was as serious as ever, but he raised an eyebrow at Keri.

Keri couldn't help continuing to giggle, the euphoria of having him back after almost six years getting to her… "You've never acted so silly dear, what's gotten into you?" Annie was a little confused at her behavior, she didn't think she'd said anything funny.

Keri felt like she owed an explanation to the woman… "Annie, Silver is Sterlings father!" She grinned and wrapped an arm around him…

"And he's just now coming to visit?" She glared at the man, ready to give him a chewing out…

"Miss Annie, I promise you that I would have been with her the entire time… every minute, if the situation had permitted… I love Keri more than anything…" He was staring at Keri, it seemed more like he was talking to her than the woman to his left.

Annie watched them, backing up a little… he reached up and brushed a piece of hair from her face… the little movement seemed to break them both out of a trance… Keri blinked and turned to her. "I'm sorry, I should introduce you two."

"Annie, this is Silver, Silver, Annie Greer."

"Well, it's nice to meet you. You take care of her, Keri is such a special girl, you know my Meowth was stuck on the roof once and she just climbed up there and got it down? That's how I met her, she'd just moved in next door, and I'm so glad or I would have had to go all the way down to the ranger station… Well, I should go inside then, I need my morning tea. Care to join me?"

"Not today Annie, me and Silver have some… catching up to do." Six years… Six years and yesterday…

"Okay dear." She waved and walked into her apartment building. Neither heard her, almost running to the apartment… Keri had gone out to get her mail… it could wait, oh god, it could wait…

Keri could barely restrain herself as they ran through the apartment building… up one floor… She'd barely gotten the door shut before she had his shirt off. "I have never," She growled, "Seen anyone look so hot in a Team Rocket uniform."

"I'm not wearing that…" He pressed his mouth against hers… It had been so hard yesterday, he'd reluctantly left at midnight, spending a restless night in the motel down the street…

"Where is that anyway…" She pressed him against the wall, they weren't going to make it to the bedroom…

"No more talking…" He growled…

.~.~.~.~.~

Sterling raised her hand, watching the teacher. She finally looked up from her desk. "Yes Miss Fletcher?"

"Mrs. Bradly, I finished my problems…"

"Well, move on to the next ones."

"I finished those too…"

The teacher frowned, and walked over to the little girls table, looking through the pages… "Sterling, did you do the whole problem book?"

She nodded. "I already know adding and subtracting, I can do the big numbers too. Mommy taught me how to add, and subtracting is just adding backwards, that isn't that hard."

"Well… why don't you read for a little while?"

"But I finished my book… I know, don't start your sentences with but. I finished my book though."

The teacher tapped her fingers on the table, a couple of the other students were watching, a girl with pitch black hair hooked a rubber band around a paper clip, it hit her right in the back of the head.. "Ow! Hey!"

Sterling turned around, rubbing the back of her head… "That wasn't nice Emily, why did you do that?"

The girl frowned, the teacher watching. "Do what?"

"You hit me with a rubber band… That was mean."

"You can't prove that!" Emily put her fists on her hips, a pout on her face.

"No, but you know you did it." Sterling turned around, she took her pencil and began to draw on the edge of the problem book. Emily was mean… she didn't have to play with her.

The teacher looked at Sterling, then back at Emily, who was sitting with her arms crossed. "Sterling, how old are you, again?"

She looked up to the teacher. "Five, I turn six in December."

Mrs. Bradely chewed on her bottom lip… This girl had been in kindergarten for three weeks… "Sterling, why don't you come with me. You aren't in trouble, but I want to talk to you."

The girl became a little worried, but stood up and walked behind the teacher anyway, still holding her pencil. Mrs. Bradely picked up her phone and dialed a number, "Could you send someone down to watch the class?… No, no problems. I'll explain when we get there." She set the phone in the receiver.

Sterling walked out of the room behind her, glancing back. All of the other students were watching her. She felt her face go red… was she in trouble?

Mrs. Bradely led Sterling into the office… Now she was _sure_ she was in trouble… she walked a little slower. Mrs. Bradely led her into the counselors office. He looked up, frowning slightly. "Is there a problem Mrs. Bradely?"

"No, there's nothing wrong at all. Sterling has just finished her problem book."

He looked at the teacher, surprised… "You mean her problems for today?"

"No Mister Dale, her entire problem book."

Sterling looked at the counselor, worried. "Did I do something wrong? Mrs. Bradely said to work ahead if we were done, and I already finished my reading book… I didn't do anything wrong, right?" Her little hands were balled into fists behind her back. She hadn't done anything wrong, she knew it.

"No, it's just that most of the other kids in your grade have only finished the first few pages. You worked out everything in the book much faster than everyone else."

Mrs. Bradely looked at Sterling… "Another student shot a rubber band at her."

The counselor frowned, looking at the teacher. "What happened?"

"Sterling, why don't you tell him."

She was confused… if she wasn't in trouble, then why was she down here, and why did she have to tell him about Emily…? "She hit me with the rubber band, and I told her it wasn't nice, and she said she didn't do it, then I told her she was being mean by hitting me with it. Emily told me I couldn't prove it, but I can because she sits two tables down, and it didn't hit me hard enough to be any closer, but I told her that she knew she'd done it, because I don't want to fight with her, and she knows better than to hit people. I'm not in trouble right?"

The man shared a look with the teacher… "No, that was a very… mature thing to do. Why don't you go back… stop in the library on your way back and get a new book to read."

Sterling was relieved, and wasted no time leaving the office… Why were the grown ups worried about her finishing her work book? The problems were easy, and Emily was mean so arguing with her would just make it worse.

Mr. Dale drummed his fingers on the desk for a couple seconds… "So should we put her in first grade?"

"I'm not sure. We need to talk to her mother about it. One thing we don't want to do is move her on too fast, that could hurt her more than help. She figured out the subtraction all by herself, just from the book. She said it was just like adding but backwards."

He sighed. "I'll call her mother, and we can talk to her about it."

.~.~.~.~.~

Keri ignored the phone… until it started ringing for the third time… "Fine!" She growled.

Silver looked at the item, sitting just a couple feet away… Keri grabbed it and pressed the little green button…

"Hello?"

The counselor answered. "Yes, Miss Fletcher?"

"Silver hey, no wa- stop that! It's the school!" The counselor looked at the phone, slightly shocked for a second..

"I could call back at a better time…?"

"No, no it's fine, what is it?" She glared at Silver, face red. He smirked and raised his eyebrows at her… she couldn't help smiling.

"Uh… we just wanted to talk to you about some things, along with Sterling."

Keri's face fell… "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, but I would rather talk to you in person. If you could give us a good time."

"I can come in right after school."

"That would be perfect, thank you Miss Fletcher." The counselor hung up the phone.

Keri pressed end and set the phone back on the receiver, looking at it as if it were going to bite her in a second…

"What was that about?"

She turned around and Kissed him, still worried. "It was the school… they want to talk to me about Sterling, they said that nothing was wrong though…"

Silver frowned, "Can I come with?"

Keri was shocked for a second… "Of course… I can't believe that you asked permission."

"When does school get out?"

"Around four. We could walk down, it takes about twenty minutes to get there."

"We probably should then."

She lay there for a second, worried. What on earth could they have called her about? Why did they want to see her in person? "Why don't we get up?" She said, she wasn't in the mood anymore, she was too worried.

.~.~.~.~.~

Emily Creed fiddled with the paperclip… perfect, an itty bitty slingshot just like mom could make. Not as strong, but it would shoot the rubber bands more accurately…

"Emily, shouldn't you be doing your problems?"

She glared at the boy. "They're boorriinngg. Look at what I made." She held up the twisted paperclip…

"That's what you shot Sterling with?"

"Yep, but I think it will work better now."

"You shouldn't be mean to her, you'll get in trouble."

"Ethan, don't be dumb. I never get in trouble… Are you stuck on number eight?"

He turned back to his paper… "No, I just haven't figured it out yet."

"You are stuck on it. Seven and three is just like five and five, they equal the same." She flipped open her book… "See, it says here, seven and three equal ten, just like five and five do."

Ethan looked at her book, then at his paper… "You're so smart, why don't you ever do your problems Emily?"

"It's boring, I already know everything. My mom taught me to add and subtract problems forever ago." She flipped to the last page of the book. "Look, see these numbers? That little sign there mean subtract, which means that you take away from the number, instead of add to it. These ones are bigger than the ones that we work on now, but I can subtract even bigger ones."

Ethan wrote the answer to number nine in his book. "You should do all of the problems and show the teacher that you're smart. Could you help me with ten, I don't remember what that number is."

"That one is one more than ten…"

Mrs. Bradely moved out of ear shot, checking another students problems. Emily was just as smart as Sterling… and she _had_ shot that rubber band at her. Sterling was sitting only one table ahead of them now, reading her new book. The teacher was surprised to see that she hadn't turned the page already, but the girl seemed to be concentrating…

She was shocked to realize that Sterling must have been listening in on the other two. Kindergarteners don't usually eavesdrop on each other… not like that. She went to her desk and picked up her phone… "Mr. Dale? Could you call Miss Creed, and set up a meeting?… No, she's teaching another student what subtraction is……. Yes. No, she hasn't… Why don't we call in one of the professors and see what they make of it?"

She scanned the classroom… her eyes locked with Sterlings for a second… she blinked, quickly looking away. The girl went back to reading her book… several of the other students were still learning the alphabet.

Emily watched her set down the phone, finally doing her problems after some encouragement from Ethan. Students who didn't do their problems got in trouble… she glared down at the page, quickly filling out the answered for the previous three pages. She didn't want to get in trouble… She had to be just like mommy, and mommy never got caught.

XOX

Okay, that was hard. I hate to admit that I think I need a little help, I haven't been in elementary school for a few years, and I haven't ever been a parent, so any advice on writing either would really be useful right now.

Silver is going to be much more OOC during this story, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind, although I don't think I myself have fully comprehended the meaning of these yet. As silly as that sounds, me being the author and all…

1. He's a father now. Having children changes people… I've watched it happen, and it's a little scary and completely amazing at the same time. Children are such huge forces, it's really terrifying how much they change peoples lives… and in fiction, that's no exception.

2. At some point, in the last book, Silver grew up. I know that's a little weird because he's always so serious and seems… Iunno. But everyone has that point where everything focuses, and they just… _know_. I know that that isn't very clear, but it's the best way I can explain it.

So, welcome to the sequel of Silvers Kiss, and _I have no clue what I'm doing_.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

"We're buying you some more clothes when we get out of here."

"I had the uniform, and this. What do you want from me? I didn't exactly have time to pack before blowing up the ship."

She stopped dead. "You _blew it up_?"

"Mostly just a distraction, I didn't actually blow it up, I just made it… difficult for them to get home."

Keri grabbed his hand as he pushed open the door. "You killed the engine didn't you?"

"They're probably lost in the Sinnoh sea. Someone will find them, eventually. I wouldn't hold my breath." He looked around the hallway… there were pictures made of 'fall things.' A little glass desk that had supplies in it, labeled 'store.' To his left were the doors to the library.

"The office is this way." Keri led him to another door, walking in.

A woman at a desk looked up, holding up a finger as she spoke on the phone… she finally put it down. "Yes?"

"They called me for a meeting today? Keri Fletcher."

The woman nodded. "Yes, you're early… who are you?" She nodded towards Silver.

"This is Sterling's father, Silver." Keri leaned against him, the woman looked confused for a second, then shrugged as the phone rang again.

The bell rang, and the students appeared in he hall, filling it up. Keri watched them walk along, led by teachers out to the rangers. The rangers walked the students home when parents couldn't come to pick them up. Mr. Dale walked out of his office to make sure everything was okay in the hall, and seemed surprised to see Keri standing there. "Miss Fletcher?"

She turned around, smiling, "that would be me."

"You're early, thank you for coming. Who is the man with you?" He had a feeling he knew, but didn't want to be rude…

Sterling walked up to the office door, looking around a little nervously… She pushed it open, grinning. "Mommy!" She ran over and hugged her, then let go and hugged Silver around the knees… "You brought Daddy with you too!"

Silver looked down at her, a little surprised… he knelt down and wrapped his arms around her… "Of course I came with. You're my daughter…" _His daughter…_ "I love you…" It was like nothing he had ever felt before… Team Rocket had kept him from her… she was the most beautiful thing in the world…

"Daddy, this is my teacher, Mrs. Bradely."

Silver picked her up and looked at the woman, a calm expression on his face… "Hello…"

"We weren't aware that her father was around…" She looked at the man, he was obviously her father, there was no mistaking that, but on the form Miss Fletcher had written single parent…

"Why don't we go into my office." Mr. Dale waved them over, and they walked down a short hallway into the office. Keri sat down in one of the chairs opposite his on the other side of the desk, Silver cautiously took the other, Sterling sitting on his lap.

The teachers began talking, Silver couldn't help just looking at Sterling, every little part of her animated, sometimes a little frown, a grin… "Silver, what do you think?"

"She's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life…" He said, almost a whisper…

Everyone stared at him for a couple seconds, and he looked up, completely composed. "I'm sorry, what were you talking about?"

Mr. Dale looked to Keri… "How long have you two been together?" The man had been looking at Sterling like he'd only just seen her for the first time in his life.

"About six years ago there were some… problems, and he couldn't come here with me-"

"Mommy said that Daddy saved her life but then couldn't come with because Team Rocket made him stay, but the bad guys are gone now, so he can stay with us!" She grinned, then looked confused as the two teachers glanced worriedly at each other.

Keri blushed a little… "He met her yesterday…"

"Well… We want to do a couple of tests on your daughter… She finished her entire math book today, and has been reading ahead." Mrs. Bradely said, still a little shocked. She handed him the math workbook.

Sterling crawled down from his lap as he flipped through the pages… "What does coun-sel-or mean?"

Mr. Dale looked at her… "It can mean many different things, some counselors are people who are in charge of a group of other people, and are usually part of a team. There are others who talk to people about how they feel. A Counselor is someone who gives counsel, or advice."

"Counsel sounds like console…" She said, walking around and looking at things in the office. "Console makes people feel better…"

"Where did you learn Console?"

"One of the third graders in the library talks while he works. So counselors make people feel better?"

Silver set the problem book on the desk…

"Yes, sometimes."

"I… Think that the tests… would be a good idea… but only if Keri does…" he looked at her, then at Sterling…

Keri was shocked, he sounded completely unsure, Silver was never unsure… "It sounds like a good idea, what exactly are they going to be doing?"

"Things like putting together puzzles, games. Incidentally, there's another student that we may be testing tomorrow too, Emily Creed. She's in the same class, we still need to discuss it with her parents…

"Silver..? Could you come here, I have some games I want to play with you…"

"Can I finish coloring my picture?"

"Of course…"

"Right now this is just to see what level she's at, we're not going to be making any huge changes…"

"What are these? I've never seen them before…"

"It's a puzzle…"

"Can I get some air?" Silver stood up, backing towards the door a little.

"You have to do it yourself, take your time…"

"Of course, why don't-" the counselor started, but Silver was already out the door.

"Silver..!" Keri stood up and followed him, Sterling ran after.

He stopped outside, taking deep breaths of air… "Silver, are you okay?" She put a hand on his shoulder… earlier he'd been completely unsure, now he'd just run out like there was fire behind him… "What's wrong?"

"My mother had me tested… I'm fine, just needed to get out for a second…"

Sterling ran over, standing next to him… "Daddy, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Sterling… We should go back and finish talking to the teachers. Why don't we all go get some ice cream when we're done?" He smiled at Keri. She grinned at him… Petalburg…

The teachers stood by the door… "Is everything okay?"

"Yes… It's… personal. Should we go back inside..?" He motioned to the doors.

"No, we're almost done anyway. If it's okay with you, we could do the tests tomorrow at about ten. If you would like to come, just stop by the office and we'll tell you where to go."

Keri nodded, Silver turned around as he heard some gravel crunch slightly…

"Hello…" The woman stared for a second, holding onto her daughters hand… "Keri! If I'd known you moved out here…"

"Viox! How is Michael?"

"Last I herd he was okay… He stops by from time to time. Where are you living?"

"Our apartment is close to the park… I'm sorry I haven't been in contact with you at all… Have you heard from Kat and Dominic?"

"No, not since we found you. I understand why you couldn't try to call…" She looked at Silver… "Are you sure it's safe now?"

"Nothing is safe." They said it at the same time, startling each other slightly.

The two teachers were a little confused at the conversation… They knew each other? Obviously there was some sort of past between them.

Sterling watched Emily, who watched her, silently. They were standing a couple feet away from the adults. Finally Sterling spoke… "It was nice of you to help Ethan with his problems."

Emily blinked, then smiled. "Sorry I hit you with the rubber band…"

"It's neat how you bent the paperclip like that, can I see?"

She pulled it out of her pocket… "See, if you bend it like this, they fly further because there isn't anything in the way…"

"Since there's two of them you can aim better!"

"Yeah! Watch, I can hit that tree."

Emily loaded a small rubber band into it, releasing and hitting the tree. "Piece of cake, I could hit further… uh-oh…"

The tree turned, glaring at the two… "Sudowoodo!" It ran forward, arms out… "Woodo!" Emily screamed and ducked-

"Crunch! Throw it!"

Silver was in front of the two girls before anyone else had been able to respond. "Double team, confuse it!"

As the rock type his the ground, the silver and black Hyena had surrounded it, snarling. The pokemon backed up, not sure where to run… it darted through the illusions back to the little group of trees. "Return, thank you Mightyena."

He returned the Pokéball to his pocket, staring in the direction the Pokemon had run… he followed, stepping silently. He disappeared into the trees…

"We should… have our meeting…" The Mrs. Bradely said, staring in shock as he went after the Pokemon.

Viox and Keri ran over and picked up their daughters… "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I was showing how I could shoot the rubber bands and the tree attacked us!" Emily pointed.

"It was a Pokemon! Like Geodude, it hid by looking like something else!" Sterling wriggled from Keris arms, jumping down and running after Silver.

Suddenly sterling felt herself lifted off the ground, and wiggled… "Shh…" She looked up to see her father with a finger to his lips, he was staring at something…

"It has a nest, don't make a sound."

Keri ran after Sterling, slowing to a silent walk as she saw them… "Silver…"

"Look."

She looked through the trees where he was pointing, two Sudowoodo standing guard over two Bonsly. A third Bonsly came into view a second later, toddling on two little legs. The Sudowoodo ignored it, taking care of the other two.

"What's wrong with that one? Why won't they take care of it?" Sterling whispered.

"I don't know…" He carefully watched it. The Pokemon just toddled around, looking lost. It sat down on the ground, staring around. Finally one of the Sudowoodo took notice of it, walking over and shouting angrily. The Bonsly began to cry… The larger Pokemon shoved at it with its arms, growling…

"Leave it alone!" Sterling was suddenly in the little clearing, hands on her hips, in front of the Pokemon…

"Sudowoodo!" It growled at her…

"I said leave it alone!" She glared at the Pokemon, eyes flashing dangerously…

Silver threw out his Pokéball…. "Feraligatr! Don't let it touch her!"

Keri ran forward, scooping up Sterling and holding her close as the Pokemon growled…

"Don't attack, just keep it away. We don't want to hurt them."

The Sudowoodo backed off, running to the Bonsly that had begun to cry at the sight of the giant Pokemon… Keri ran a wiggling Sterling out of the small group of trees, setting her down in the road… "What were you thinking!"

"It wasn't right! They were going to hurt her and she hadn't done anything to them!" Keri blinked in surprise… Sterling was holding the Pokemon. "I'm not letting them hurt her!" She stomped her foot, hugging the Bonsly.

Silver soon appeared behind them… "You could have gotten hurt too…"

"But I didn't. You sent out your big Pokemon… I thought you would send out the black one like before, but you still sent one out, and they didn't hurt her!" Sterling grinned…

Silver crouched down, looking into her eyes… "Never ever make a plan like that without telling mommy or daddy first. If that Pokemon was stronger than mine you could have gotten hurt… Promise me, you won't just run in like that again."

"What if you aren't there?" She pouted… the Pokemon in her arms just looked around.

"Then you go and find someone, you never just step between two Pokemon. Sterling…"

"I promise, I won't step between Pokemon like that again… I just didn't want her to get hurt…"

Silver wrapped his arms around her… "I don't want you to get hurt either."

Keri watched him… He cared so much about her, she could hear how worried her was, see that he was holding so much back… she could tell that he wanted to yell… He met her eyes… "Keri, I…" he sighed and shut his eyes…

.~.~.~.~.~

Jason crouched in the tree, just above the little nest of Pokemon… "You there?" he muttered into his Styler.

"No, my Styler was eaten by an Oddish, they're holding me hostage."

"So you're talking to an Oddish?"

"No you idiot! I'm stuck at the base. What is it?"

"I have my report for him filled out, got some footage too… We've been watching them for years now, what does he expect to happen?"

Grant sighed… being a double agent was rough, but Giovanni had trusted him with this… "I don't know Jason, just do your job. Send the footage and your report to file B so it can be sent. After that come back to the base so you can receive further instruction."

"Alright, sending it now… you know, I'm glad that Team Rocket is out of this region, no offense, but most of you guys are jerks."

"I'm just glad that you agreed to help me with this. Since Jen can't be here right now… You know you would have to turn in your Styler if you got caught."

"Don't worry bro. Your Giovanni is a lot softer than you think… This is his granddaughter right? It doesn't matter how much the boy hates his dad, he's still his dad. Something had me worried though, there's something in the air with these Pokemon, they're acting strange again bro… it's getting rough."

"J… this had better not be another of your games."

"I'm not joking Grant, something ain't right about the air. There's a real storm coming. And whatever it is, you had better bet that it involves your friends down there…" Grant could hear him struggling…

"Jason…" He didn't answer… "Jason!? Are you there!?"

He herd some static, then laughing…. "A real storm… we haven't had one for years… This'll be fun!" Grant stared at the Styler… suddenly he heard a screech, a crunch…

"Ranger down by school road!" _Oh God oh God please not again…_

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver stood, looking in the mirror… "I look ridiculous."

Sterling giggled. "Try _this_ one on!" She handed him another hat.

Keri grinned, sitting on a chair beside the mirror… He glanced at her, a half glare, a half smile… "Okay." He rolled his eyes as he put it on his head. "Hey, this one isn't half bad!" He grinned at Sterling as she burst into giggles, she'd given him a bright orange cowboy hat.

He picked her up and put it on her head, "hey! That's too big for _me_!"

He began laughing… Keri stood up and pulled it off Sterling's head. "How about me!" the brim tilted over her face.

"I don't like it nearly as much on you…" He grinned…

"Why?"

He lifted the brim… "I can't see your eyes…" He gave her a short kiss. "We should get out of here and find a place to get ice cream."

"There's a lady in the park who sells some!" Silver set Sterling down, and she hopped up and down… "Me and mommy got some and we sat and watched the Pokemon and there was a man feeding the birds and there's a fountain that people throw coins in and then you make a wish and…" She grabbed Silvers hand and began leading him towards the door of the store, just talking the entire time.

The woman at the counter raised an eyebrow at Keri… "It's good to see you with a boy finally, you've been coming in here for five years…" She sounded worried.

"It's okay Mrs. Jan, Silver is good, all the way through." She paid for the clothes.

"It's not that, I've just never seen him before, but you three act like a family already… That daughter of yours… He's her father, right?"

Keri blushed slightly… "Yes… he is…"

"Well I'm just glad he's back, you've been hurting for too long. Now go and get those two before Sterling gets him lost."

"Goodbye Mrs. Jan…" Had it really been that obvious? The whole time?

She began walking down the street, towards the park. Brook wouldn't let them pass over without her. She smiled as she walked up to the bridge, laughing as she heard Brook…

"Keri is coming, Sterling dragged me out of the store…"

Brook had a suspicious look on his face, tapping his foot… "I've never seen you around before, how do I know you aren't just up to something?"

"Brook, if Silver were up to something he wouldn't have let you stop him." She laughed as he jumped, surprised.

"Mom, Brook said we couldn't go without you! Come on I wanna go get ice cream and show daddy the rest of the park!" She was practically bouncing…

Brook moved, raising his eyebrows at Keri. "You said you weren't in touch."

"We weren't… it's a little complicated. Maybe someday someone will explain it to you, but not today. We have some ice cream to get and a park to explore. Bye Brook." She waved and walked across the bridge, grabbing Silvers hand.

"Who was that?"

"An over enthusiastic gate keeper named Brook. He keeps an eye out for people… And asks too many questions."

"And he pretends to be a ranger when no one is looking… Except if you look right you can see him out the windows in the lunch room at school, because the lunch room is on the second floor." Sterling hummed…

Keri glanced at Silver… "You know… She's exactly like you."

He frowned a little… "Keri… What if… What if I screw up? I don't know…" He watched Sterling, skipping ahead, smiling… she was just so… sometimes she got that flash in her eyes… "Keri… I'm scared."

XOX

… And all of his confidence has now been crushed by a slightly hyperactive Five-year-old. I think I really love what I've done with Silver, although he would never admit to being afraid of anything to anyone else.

Mostly the point of this chapter was to get the ball rolling on a couple things. I was aware when I wrote the first chapter that it was a little boring, but that happens. I just wanted to get things moving smoothly again, and sometimes you have to start off a little slow to do that.

I'm also going to be updating every third day instead of every second for now, until I get ahead a few more chapters. Shouldn't take long, I just thought I would let you know. I hope everyone had a happy Easter, and if you don't celebrate Easter, I hope I didn't offend you.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to reaperstarsoulluvr for reviewing Chapter One.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

"Hey! Wha- What are you doing!" The fisherman backed down the pier…

"I'm sick of listening to your fighting you land locked fish freaks! Now tell me what the hell you did with my house!" The old man waved his cane in the air, glaring angrily at the two people…

"What on earth is going on here!" A ranger ran down the pier, hand on his Styler, as if it could protect him from a sharp whack on the head from the cane.

"I'll tell you what's going on! I decided to take a trip to Mossdeep and when I come back my house has been turned into some godforsaken cement block! Where is my Granddaughter! Where is my Grandson! What the hell are you wearing!? God that looks awful…"

"Sir… You're in Almia… You're talking about Hoenn."

"… Are you sure?"

"Sir… This is Puel Harbor."

"I must be a little lost then… well, back on the boat."

"Lost! That isn't Lost! That's inexcusable! How the hell do you go from Hoenn to Almia and not notice that you're in the wrong place!?" One of the fishermen shouted, glaring angrily.

Mr. Briney smacked him with his cane.

"Um… could I have another ranger down here… I'm at the fisherman's pier. We have a… very very lost old man…"

"I resent that comment! I've still got fight in me, I ain't old until I'm dead!" He glared at the ranger, who winced.

"Sir… Why don't you tell us what exactly happened? I'm a little confused…"

The other ranger walked down the pier, then stopped dead seeing the old man…

Mr. Briney looked at him… "What the hell are you doing here? I thought we left you at Slateport!"

Dominic winced… It was his first day in Pueltown and _this_ just had to happen. So much for starting over… "I… moved?"

"Well never mind you, have you heard from Keri and Silver? Maddie keeps saying that they're going to be in trouble and I know that mother of hers, always spouting off things that haven't happened yet and… Did you say I was in Almia?" He suddenly stopped, looking around carefully…

"Yes Mr. Briney, you're in Almia… I have no clue where Keri and Silver are. No one has heard from either of them for years." Dominic sighed. His first years as a ranger were not going well. He finally gets into the academy, and ends up at the very bottom of his class, he makes it to Pueltown base and finds out that the person in charge is one of Giovannis direct underlings, he ends up running into Mr. Briney on his first real day out. It couldn't possibly get more awful. At least he had Katrina to cheer him up…

"Good, I'll be on my way then." He walked down the pier, disappearing quickly.

The first ranger scratched his head… "You know that guy?"

"It's a very long and very personal story… lets just leave it at that. I'd better follow him before he gets himself lost…" Dominic sighed again and ran after the man, leaving the other ranger behind and confused.

"Wasn't there some big deal in Hoenn about a kid named Silver a few years ago?" One of the fishermen said, watching Dominic disappear.

"No, that was in Johto." The younger one said.

"I'm positive it was in Hoenn, they had search parties out looking for some kid called Silver… something about him being wanted by the police.

"No, that was definitely Johto, I remember seeing on the television, they were looking for him because he stole some guys Pokemon."

"It was Hoenn!"

"Johto!"

"I _am not _dealing with this one." The ranger turned and left, running away before the two fishermen could ask him to sort it out for them.

"Mr. Briney! Slow down, where are you going?" Dominic was exhausted, the old man had been running around the town for two hours now, in and out of every apartment building. It was like he never got tired!

"Dominic, why are you here?" He turned around to see Katrina watching him, confused.

"You… remember… Mister… Briney… right?" He panted, motioning to the man who was making his way up to the roof.

"Why is he walking around the apartment building?"

"I have no clue… at all, actually. He said something about Silver and Keri being in trouble earlier, and he's been going through the town like a maniac ever since!"

"Keri is in trouble?"

"I don't know _who_ is in trouble! I've just been chasing around a crazy person for two hours-" He stopped, putting his hands on his hips and looking at her…

"What?"

"You still have Madison's number?"

"Ahh… that's probably a good idea. I'll call them. Hopefully they're already looking for him." She opened the door to their apartment and walked inside…

"What are you doing standing here? We have places to go!"

"Wait! STOP!" Dominic stood in front of him, getting him to pause… "Look, do your grandchildren have _any_ clue where you are?"

He started slightly… "No… No they don't… I'm a grown man, why should they need to know where I am!?"

"Mr. Briney, for the love of every single person in Pueltown, would you please just-"

The old man walked past him, going down the stairs. "Haven't checked the school yet!"

Katrina stepped out of the apartment to roll her eyes and wave Dominic after him…

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Madison?"

"Yes?"

"Well, we found your grandfather."

"Oh thank God, where is he?!"

"Um… He's in Pueltown."

"What!?"

"In Almia. Your grandfather… is in Almia."

"Fine, we'll be there in three days… who is this?"

"Katrina, my husband has been chasing around that old man for hours now, he seems to be looking for something."

"… Kat?"

"Yes, and Dominic. Well… he's actually after Mr. Briney again."

"This is going to be worse than I thought… okay, if you run into a crazy boy who looks like he's been possessed by a ghost type… well actually, there's nothing I can do about that unless I'm there… Just stay away from crazy people."

"Madison, your grandfather just searched our entire apartment."

"So?"

"You just told me to stay away from crazy people."

"And?"

"Madison, are you okay? Have you _met_ your grandfather?"

"Okay, you have a point… stay away from _other_ crazy people."

"Why do you think I'm going to run into a crazy… possessed person anyway?"

"It's complicated… I have to go, Nathan is um… well I have to go!" Katrina heard the phone shut off, and turned off hers.

She sat down on the small couch, sighing. "Sometimes I wish I had never met that stupid girl… At least we don't have to deal with sending reports to Team Rocket anymore…" She looked up at the clock on her wall… "I am so glad I have today off."

.~.~.~.~.~

"Why do we have to learn this? I want to be a Ranger, only trainers do Battles!"

"Rangers still have to know what kinds of attacks and abilities Pokemon have. The Oddish you were practicing with, what Type is it?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "It's a grass type duh!"

"You're only partly correct. It has two types. The first is Grass, the second is Poison. Grass types are normally weak to Poison types, but Oddish is resistant because of the dual type. Who can tell me what use poisoning a foe in any situation is?"

Several students raised their hands, Keri pointed at a fourth grader near the back. "In the orange, what use is poison?"

"It gradually weakens the other Pokemon, so if you can poison it, you can take it out easier. If you can keep your Pokemon from getting hit, the battle could end without your Pokemon having to attack even a second time." He looked around at the other students, who were watching him…

"Good. What Pokemon are immune to poisonings?" She searched the crowd, finally an older teenager raised her hand. Keri nodded to her, and she stood up.

"Steel types are immune, so are poison types… A Pokemon called Zangoose can't be poisoned because of it's history with Seviper. Some Snorlax have been found to have the ability, because of living near and eating poisonous plants their whole lives." She sat back down, looking a little nervous.

"Are you new to the class?" Keri hadn't recognized her.

"Yes, I just moved here from Sinnoh. I heard that the classes out here were better…" She looked like she wanted to melt into the floor.

Keri took pity on her and dropped the conversation. "Correct, Steel types, Poison types, Zangoose, and sometimes Snorlax, cannot be poisoned."

She smiled at the group, then turned to look at Silver, who was sitting a little ways away in the grass. "Today, I'm going to do a battle demonstration."

Silver stood and walked onto the field, hand in his pocket. Keri turned back to the group. "Since we have a demonstration today, I would suggest taking notes. Silver has been dealing with Pokemon for a few more years than I have."

"And since you held out on me during our last battle, I really want you to show me what you can do." He smirked, pulling out two Pokéballs out of his pocket.

"Since that was about six years ago, you'll have to show me some of your new tricks."

"Don't remind me how long it's been." He frowned, holding one of the minimized Pokéballs between two fingers. "Hurry up and choose your Pokemon."

Keri grinned, a slight spark in her eye. "Fine! Vigoroth!"

"Umbreon!" He looked surprised at the Pokemon, "it evolved?"

"What did you expect it to do? I see you got a new Pokemon. When did you find it?"

"I'd rather tell you later… Quick Attack Iron Tail!" His Umbreon ran forward, disappearing…

"Rain Dance!" The Umbreon hit behind the Vigoroth, the extra speed knocking it into the ground. It jumped back… Too late, the clouds rolled in, thunder…

Silver narrowed his eyes… She just kept smiling… "What are you up too… Protect!"

"Brick break!"

"Dodge it!"

"Water Pulse!"

The Umbreon shook off the water pulse, already soaked from the rain… there was a low rumble of thunder, most of the students had umbrellas out, someone had found a Ditto from training and had it covering a group like a tarp… Many of the students were muttering to each other, some were taking notes…

Silver paused for a second, watching her… Vigoroth is a normal types, normal types can learn several different types of moves… "DIG!" His Pokemon disappeared under ground…

"Ice Beam!" The water over the field froze, covering it. The temperature dropped… Umbreons hole was covered…

She stood, calmly while her Pokemon paced back and fourth… Silver smirked, and she suddenly looked worried… "Return!"

The Pokemon shot out of the frozen ground, ice shattering around it and spraying out… the pokemon suddenly stopped, landing and staring to the right… "Bre?"

Keri was surprised, and closed her mouth to cut off the double team command she'd just been about to give. She followed the Pokemon gaze, only to watch a small Pokemon toddle out onto the field, just walking across it right between the two Pokemon… Some of the students began to giggle… Keri returned her Pokemon as the little creature sat down in a small puddle… "It's that same Bonsly, isn't it?" She said, glancing at Silver.

"Didn't we give it to the rangers to take care of?" He asked, returning the Umbreon…

The students were muttering, a few of the older ones giggling at the rock type sitting in the small puddle of water. It seemed to be asleep, eyes shut, breathing in and out slowly. "Class dismissed for now… we have to get this baby back to the rangers…" She said it almost absentmindedly…

"No need to dismiss the class!" A ranger burst out of the woods, panting… "I've been chasing that thing for hours now! She's been a complete pain!"

He quietly walked up to the Pokemon, reaching out to pick it up… and was suddenly on his back, no Pokemon to be seen. "Dammit! For the third fu-" He cut himself off and ran around to the front of the school…

Keri stared in his direction… "Fast Pokemon."

One of the students stood up, it was the girl from before… "Why didn't he just use his Styler, I wonder?" She said, mostly to herself. She stood up and followed around the schoolhouse…

Silvers mouth twitched into a smile… "It's immune to water… interesting…" He was thinking about the ranger now though, something had seemed oddly familiar about him. Something in the back of his mind he couldn't quite figure out…

The rest of the class muttered and got up to follow the girl, Silver walked over to Keri, wrapping an arm around her waist. Keri sighed and began walking after the class. "I get hired to do this and something weird has to happen my first day…"

"This is only your first day?"

"I used to just help but the old teacher just randomly disappeared, so they had a job opening. Three days a week and I can pick up Sterling myself. Not bad, except the old teacher has some… interesting things beaten into some of the students heads."

The front of the school was crowded with people, a circle formed around the Bonsly and the Ranger.

Grant glared at it, pulling out a Pokéball. The Styler hadn't worked… he would just have to do this the old fashioned way.

.~.~.~.~.~

A crowd of students stared out the doors… a couple of teachers blocking the way. Sterling managed to get to the front, peering through one of the windows… Her Bonsly! She looked at the teachers, blocking the doors… if everyone was out here, no one would be in the back! She turned and shoved past the crowd, pausing near the back… good, none of the teachers were back here…

She looked around a second time, then began walking to the doors in the back of the school. Now all she had to worry about was mom and dad seeing her, if she could get up to the steps she could get it's attention… "What are you doing?"

Sterling jumped, turning around. She grinned as she saw Emily. "I'm going to go get my Bonsly."

"I don't think that Pokemon is yours… so you're going out the back doors?"

"Yep. And that Pokemon will be mine… I just have to catch it." She began walking again, glancing back as Emily ran to catch up with her.

"You don't know how to catch one though! And you don't have any Pokéballs." Emily glared at her for a second.

"You don't need a Pokéball to have a Pokemon. Our neighbor has a Meowth and it doesn't have a Pokéball. It just stays around." Sterling thought about the Pokéballs for a second. If she could get her hands on one, it would be easier to get the Pokemon, even if she didn't have another to battle it with… The Pokemon had ended up back at the school though, and she didn't like how that ranger looked… "I'll just call it and see if it comes."

"That is the stupidest plan I have ever heard." What was this girl thinking? That she could just yell at it and it would sit on her feet or something?

"What's the stupidest plan you've ever heard?"

Sterling sighed. "I'm going to somehow get that Pokemon outside. I said I was going to call it and see if it comes. Since I don't have a Pokéball, it's the best I've got." She paused to let Ethan catch up.

"Aren't you going the wrong way?" He looked around the school, a little confused…

"No, I'm going out the back door, since all of the teachers are up front. Come on!" She ran down the hall…

The three quickly made it out the back doors, no one even noticing that they were gone. "Hey! Hey, you're going to get that Pokemon!? You can't even train it yet!" Ethan panted… he'd never been very fast…

"Doesn't matter." Sterling shouted, turning the corner and heading towards the front of the building.

Emily paused, panting. "She's going to get in trouble."

Ethan turned to her… "She cares an awful lot about that Pokemon."

"We'd better make sure she doesn't get herself hurt." Emily began running again, after Sterling.

She could see her mom and dad, near the back of the crowd… She quickly slid into the side furthest from them, crouching low. No one was paying attention to her, this would be easy. Down low, everyone was far enough apart for her to just… slip… through! She could see the front of the school now, and hid just behind a couple of the people, out of sight from the teachers standing in the window.

"Piece of cake…" She muttered, crouching a little lower…

"Until you get to the hard part. What do you think you're doing?" Sterling jumped and turned around, looking up at her father…

"I don't like that ranger, something isn't right about him. Bonsly proves it… you saw me." No one ever saw her… Not when she wanted to hide…

Silver smirked, then picked her up, whispering in her ear. "You're right, that ranger isn't quite what he seems, but that needs to remain a secret for now."

Sterling frowned… "Okay… How did you see me? No one ever sees me. Unless I want them to."

Silver wasn't sure weather to be terrified or a little proud… "We're a lot alike… No one ever sees me either, you have to learn how to tell when other people are looking though. Right now isn't the time for that."

He put her on his shoulders. "Daddy… What about Bonsly?"

"I have a feeling that it can take care of itself. There's a time to interfere, and a time to stand back and let things happen. Watch for yourself."

She looked on, the Bonsly was walking…

Grant growled in frustration… There was no way it was just that fast! "Toxic!" If he could get it poisoned…

"Bonsly!!" It disappeared!? Suddenly Grant was flat on his back, the crowd giggling slightly…

"Fine." He sat up, rubbing his head, and returning his Pokemon to it's Pokéball. He didn't want to hurt the other Pokemon, but he just couldn't catch it! The Styler wouldn't work at all, and Marowak wasn't fast enough to catch it! It was imposs-

Sterling was giggling and Silver tilted his head up slightly so he could see her… "Sterling?"

"I told them I'd get her. You _don't_ always need a Pokéball for a Pokemon!" She had the Pokemon in her arms, and it was _asleep_… Silver could see the bottoms of it's feet.

The crowd was dispersing… He looked back at the ranger, a slight smirk on his face. Grant glared at him, then disappeared into the crowd. Keri walked over to Silver and Sterling, worry clear on her face.

"Silver?"

"It looks like this isn't over." He carefully scanned the area… It didn't matter if the main forces were gone, Team Rocket was everywhere…

"Finally! We've been running for _hours _you crazy old man! I may be a ranger, but I don't know anyone with that kind of energy! What the hell are you looking for any- of course." Dominic let his arms fall to his sides, as Silver watched him, and Mr. Briney, walk closer.

Keri looked surprised… "Dominic, Mr. Briney… What are you doing here?"

The old man huffed slightly, and ignored them until he's sat down on the steps… "My granddaughter has been babbling nonsense about you and some crazy possessed guy for months now. Said you were in Almia once or twice. Of course, no one has heard from either of you for five or so years… Michael has been worried sick about Keri, and you've been getting into trouble…"

He looked up, noticing the little girl seated on Silvers shoulders… he whistled. "She's the spitting image of _you_. Has the same look in her eyes too. Didn't see that one coming… Or maybe she did, I don't remember half of what she says anymore…" He went on talking…

Silver glanced at Keri, who shrugged. Sterling looked around from his shoulders… Emily and Ethan had been right behind her, where were they now?

XOX

I should have been able to do that better. I've spent more time trying to get this right than I've spent writing for the past three days. I've been letting Silver be too good at this too, I need to tone it down a bit. I honestly can't wait to bring Madison and Nathan back though. (And don't say i gave you a spoiler, because as soon as you saw Mr. Briney, you knew it was coming.)

Keri teaches this class on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. It's not exactly going to show up often, but I had to give her a job. She used to work with an old man, but currently he's missing. This was her first day teaching alone.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to reaperstarsoulluvr for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassin for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to DarkPhoenix54 for reviewing Chapter Two.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Emily and Ethan had gone around to the front of the school, but Emily had stopped, crouching behind a bush. Ethan wondered what to do for a second, but then Emily pulled him down. "I can't see her anymore. We should just wait here for her, or we'll probably get in trouble too."

"But aren't we going to get in trouble for being outside the school anyway?" He frowned as he pointed this out.

Emily just shot him a glare, and he shrugged and sat down. "School was going to be out in twenty minutes anyway."

Emily sat down across from him. "I have some juice in my back pack. You want some?"

Ethan nodded. "I'm thirsty after chasing her all the way around the school."

She pulled the pack off and unzipped it, pulling out two juice boxes. She handed one to Ethan. "Hey Emily? Why do you always carry your pack around? Why do you have so much stuff in it?"

She frowned a little. "Mom says it's in case I get in trouble. Or if we have to leave really fast."

"That's weird."

Emily just shrugged. She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out the bent up paperclip. She began fidgeting with it a little, but was mostly just looking at it. There was no reason to mess with it anymore, it was as good as it was going to get. "You have any rubber bands?"

He shook his head. "No. Why do you keep shooting them?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's fun? My aim is pretty good."

"What are you two doing here?"

Both students looked up, surprised. Emily was much more composed than Ethan though. She stood up, glaring at the ranger that had suddenly appeared. She recognized him as the one that usually took the students home after school. "Nothing."

Sterling looked around, she had slid off of Silvers shoulders and noticed the ranger that seemed to be talking to a bush over by the side of the school. She ran over, slipping past the ranger and grabbing Emily and Ethan's hands. "Come on!"

She half dragged them both, past the now baffled ranger, to the steps of the school where she had set the sleeping Bonsly. The creature was snoring quietly. "See? I didn't even have to call it."

Emily examined it closely. "It's weird."

Ethan stood back a little bit, watching the Pokemons quiet breathing. "It's not really asleep. It's just pretending."

The two girls turned to him, as the Bonsly shouted, standing up and glaring at him. "See, I was right. It was breathing a little too slow for a Bonsly." He shot the glare right back at the Pokemon, and it started growling at him. He just kept eye contact, and it backed up a little.

Mr. Briney watched the whole thing quietly. That boy was interesting. Although he was hanging out with Silvers daughter, so he couldn't possibly be normal. Keri was talking to Dominic while Silver watched with suspicion. "What about Kat? Is she okay?"

Dominic blushed a little. "Yes actually. She insisted on being able to walk before the wedding... No one knew where either of you were!" he suddenly burst out, looking at both of them. "you disappeared that night and no one has heard anything from you since! Michael was worried sick, he and Viox have been looking for you for years now! I don't know what Detective Rain is doing, but he's probably been looking too! Madison wasn't worried at all, but Nathan called every day for weeks to see if we'd heard anything! And here you two are out of the blue with a kid and-"

Silver took a step forward, hand up. The affect was immediate as Dominic stopped talking. "I just got here about five days ago. Sterling found me _three_ days ago. I didn't even know Keri was here. She had no clue where I was. I had no clue where she was. And now I'm standing here, positive I'm not sleeping tonight because I just saw Grant, and I know he's still working for Giovanni. There's a reason neither of us tried to contact anyone."

"Except Jack." Keri said. She was watching Silver... Dominic didn't really have anything to be nervous about, but it was obvious that he was still uneasy around Silver. She felt the need to release some tension. "Jack got me up here, but I haven't seen him since. I think he went north. He also got fired from the International Police, although I had to look that up..." she let the sentence drop, while Silver shot a slightly quizzical glance at her. Keri just shrugged. "They have our records..."

Silver smirked. "Of course they do. They have at least the most basic information on every member and former member of Team Rocket. And Team Rocket has all of the information on every member and former member of the Secret Police... Once one always one."

Keri just shook her head. "When you have the skills, you should use them. Dominic here, for example, was decent at tracking. Still is. Still practices." She glanced at him.

He glared at her. "My file too? Did you go through everyone's file?"

"No. I couldn't get into them for that long... at least not on the computer I was using... I know you're good at tracking because you were being trained by one of my partners. You were better than he was, by the way. In case you ever needed to know."

Dominic frowned, thinking for a minute... "Didn't he get killed in some freak accident though?"

Keri frowned. "Yes... he did. Why don't you go do what you're really supposed to be doing? Before someone comes looking for you?"

Dominic sighed, looking around... "Yeah, that's a good idea..." he took a small notebook and pen out of his pocket and scribbled something down, handing it to her. "Call me and Kat, please?"

Keri nodded, and Dominic ran off. Silver turned to look up at the school. "Freak accident huh?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Don't ask. So that's Dominic, Kat, Viox, and Mr. Briney. Madison and Nathan will probably show up soon. The only people missing are Jack and Michael."

Silver watched the three kids, who had begun playing tag. Mr. Briney was keeping an eye on the Bonsly. "It feels planned. Don't forget Grant, wherever he is Jennifer won't be far behind. I don't like this..."

.~.~.~.~.~

Jack looked down, watching silently. It wasn't long until the bell to the school rang, and the other children ran out. Silver and Keri spoke with the principal... Soon Viox showed up to pick up Emily... "Can we go?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "No."

"It's freezing up here! And I was supposed to visit Viox and Emily tomorrow!" Micheal, seated behind Jack on his Dragonite, glared at him.

"I kidnapped you, remember? Now shut up." Ex Detective Rain said, in a very lighthearted manner.

"Yeah... why is that again? Not to mention the fact that every time you've shown up in Hoenn I've lost my job." He kept up his glare. He had gotten a job at Slateports hospital, and had been working there for a few years. He worked himself to death so that he could get time off to some see Viox and Emily, and now he's been missing for two weeks. "You show up and the next thing I know I'm in Almia!"

"I would be able to sympathize with you if you didn't like it. You were getting bored there, and I didn't think you should be left out of this." He watched at Keri and Silver left the school, with Viox and Emily walking with them.

"Left out of _what_? You keep saying that, but you can't tell me what the heck is so important that you had to kidnap me for!"

"I don't know. Hannah just said we should go get you, so here we are."

Michael just sighed. He would argue more, but it was pointless. And he could really leave any time he wanted... Jack Rain was correct, he enjoyed this. He'd missed traveling. He knew that was the real reason he'd left the first hospital in such a rush, he'd wanted to get away, to have an adventure. It seemed like he'd gotten more than he bargained for though.

"_He's getting on my nerves._"

Jack smiled. "_Relax. I have a feeling everything will sort itself out soon. Besides, that job was killing him. Hearing him complain is better than watching him kill himself so he can take a trip here every two months._"

She growled a contemplative sound. "_You're right... but I miss getting to just spend time with you._"

"_We can talk inside each others heads. How can you miss me?_"

"_...I miss the missions. When you have something to do, it's exciting... but when things are like this, I feel like you aren't the same... We're always doing something, but it feels like we don't have a purpose to it anymore._"

Jack felt the wave of sadness... "_You should have said something sooner. Why didn't you?_"

She whined, it was low enough that it couldn't be heard, but strong enough that Jack felt it. "_I didn't want you to worry._"

"_I love you, it's my job to worry about you! Hannah..._"

"_Jack..._" A silent question.

"_We're supposed to protect them. As best as we can. That's why I finally let them fire me. You remember the Ninetales, right? What he said? Hannah... we will always have a purpose because of that._" He sighed, and ran a hand along her neck. "_But before anyone else, it's my job to protect _you_. You're more than anything, you know? You are my whole life._"

"_You can't save me forever Jack... You know you can't-_"

"Can you guys at least talk out loud?" Michael growled. They were steadily heading north, and he was growing cold and irritated. It had been too quiet for too long, and he had realized that they were having a conversation without him.

"No. I don't think you would have wanted to hear the conversation anyway... We're almost to Shiver Camp... I'm sorry Michael. I really am, but I can't do what I'm going to do alone, and I couldn't involve the International Police. The link that connects me and Hannah sometimes allows us to see other things, or maybe we're shown..." He paused, staring into the snow that had started whipping around them. Nothing was a coincidence any more.

"Detective Rain... You know, I feel like it's been a thousand years since you walked into that hospital dressed up like a Doctor and arrested that Team Rocket member?" Michael frowned. It had been about six years, but it was long enough. "You walked in the door, and I was so excited I thought I must have stepped into some kind of television show. You told me to go find Silver and Keri, and suddenly I was part of something bigger. That's what this is? Isn't it? We're part of something bigger now, aren't we? And you don't know all of it, but you know enough." Saying this, he felt like a child. He wasn't sure why though. Maybe it was the admittance that he'd been so silly before, or maybe he felt exposed... he wasn't sure.

"I know enough that I know all of us need to be here. Keri and Silver made a decision, and so did everyone else that you met. And somehow it's changed what was going to happen before. I don't know what would have happened, and I don't care. What we need to focus on right now is what's ahead." He braced himself as Hannah landed. The camp was well protected from the snow by the high cliffs surrounding it, but some of the buildings were beginning to fall apart. The camp had been abandoned when the rangers were needed for driving team rocket out of the region. It was still empty, and probably would be for a while yet.

"What is ahead?" Michael slid from Hannahs back, relieved to be on his feet again, even though a little unsteady.

Jack Rain looked at him... "I don't know. There's a place we're going to be, and we're going to be standing there, and something is going to happen. I don't know what's ahead. All I know is that we all have to be there."

Michael frowned, disappointed. What was the use in knowing who needed to be there if you didn't know why or where? He decided to let it drop. "So... You were going to tell me why you and Hannah can talk to each other yesterday..."

Jack smiled. "_How many years ago..._" He nodded. "There isn't much to tell really, but..."

"_You can't resist telling a story, is what it is._" Hannah smirked, and made her way into one of the buildings.

.~.~.~.~.~

"I've only been here for a few months really. I was in Fiore, but we moved up here because I heard the schools were better." Viox was sitting at the kitchen table, a little wary.

"We came up here from Vientown. I'm working at becoming a ranger." Dominic said. He felt weird. Like no time had passed at all between the time he'd accidentally found himself on that boat, and now. Kat was next to him, and she just smiled.

Mr. Briney was asleep on the couch in the living room, where Sterling, Emily, and Ethan were playing.

"I moved up here immediately after..." Keri let it fade off her tongue. They knew.

"I blew up a boat, swam back to the pier, and hid in the woods for a few days. The whole story is too long for right now." Silver was leaning against the wall. There were only four chairs. The whole situation seemed disturbingly familiar.

It was quiet for a few seconds, that felt like minutes, and Katrina began to laugh. "Just look at us! All sitting around, and none of really knows what to say! Silver, Dominic said you saw Grant. What do you think that means?"

Silver stood quiet for a second, a slight frown on his face. "It meas that we're being watched. Maybe it was just Keri before, but soon it will be all of us. Obviously Giovanni doesn't want anything from me right now, or we'd already be under conflict. Since Grant is masquerading as a ranger, I could assume it has something to do with keeping an eye on the Union. I had heard that Grant and Jennifer had been excused from the organization until further notice." He was leaning on the table now, searching every face as if he could find an answer there.

Kat kept a calm look on her face, but she was pleased. She had gotten him worked up, but at least someone was talking about something they could all work with. Keri frowned, thinking, and was the first to speak. "He could be watching to make sure we don't say anything about the organization. I wasn't a very high rank, but most everyone I knew was."

Silver frowned. "Most everyone assumed you were an admin." It hadn't taken long for the entire organization to find out everything, although much of it was highly exaggerated, it made for a good story. All of the younger grunts ate up every detail that they could. There had been a huge outbreak of Rockets running away, some in pairs and others just by themselves. Everywhere he'd gone he'd caused a stir, but the conversation had seldom been about him.

The people that were paired with him, the ones he'd had to train, every single one of them had wanted to pry the story from the boys silent lips. "You'll be glad to know that we've all caused quite a stir, every base in every region has it's own version of what happened. You two too, Dominic and Kat. Everyone wants as many details as possible. Still. Half the younger members paired up and ran away."

None of them were sure how to react to that. "I guess it's a good thing I stayed quiet about where I was going." Keri muttered, turning in her chair to look at Sterling. If everyone in the organization knew the story, or some version of it, then her friends weren't the only ones that had been looking for her. "Do we have a fanclub yet?"

She'd said it to make him laugh, but he just smirked, and went back to leaning against the wall, thinking. Viox sighed. "You know, I would still be working for them."

They all stared at her, waiting for more. Why would she even consider going back? She smiled sadly, and kept her voice very low. "I know you wanted out, and had a good reason each of you... but I had a good life in that place. It was dangerous, exciting. Anything could and did happen... I grew up alone. So when I became a part of something bigger, I was home. It wasn't a model life, but it was mine..." She looked like she wanted to say more, but she just sighed. They wouldn't get it-

"And you had people encouraging you. You had something to do, a mission. When you did well you were happy, knew that everything would work out." Kat said.

Keri nodded. "They were strong. You got everything you needed, and could accomplish anything. You took out powerful Pokemon, and knew the best way to track someone or steal something. The difference between me and Kat, and you, is that we had someone." Silence settled, besides Sterling, Emily, and Ethan's playing, and Mr. Briney's snoring, the place was dusted with a contemplative silence.

They had loved it, until someone had been taken from them. From Keri? First her parents and then, for a while, Silver. She folded her hands on the table. Every once in a while, she had been struck with fear. What if someday they wanted Sterling? The thought brought her a shudder, that broke the silence.

"They took my little sister. I don't know what happened to her, I haven't seen her in years," Dominic said, frowning. "Katrina, too. She was the only one who understood."

"You were the only one... There was nothing I hated about them until they separated us. I was just like you," she nodded to Viox, "I didn't have anyone."

"We've all had someone taken. Or we had someone to fight for, so we could get out." Silver said. He wasn't looking at the table though. He was looking at the three children playing hide-and-seek in the living room.

Viox smiled. "She's the only reason I'm not back in." It had been a struggle. Not to just drop her off in one of the orphanages and just go back to working for Team Rocket. She was honest with herself, she hadn't wanted Emily. She hadn't wanted children at all, and the pregnancy had been very hard on her body. Every time Emily smiled at her though... "I guess that things happen for a reason." She loved that little girl more than her own life, and would give it in a heartbeat for her...

"Michael is supposed to visit tomorrow." Emily absolutely adored that man. Michael acted so much like a kid himself sometimes, but he really cared about Emily. She would be so excited when he came.

"You've seen Michael? How has he been?" Kat asked. She was fighting not to wince. Her leg hurt really bad. She'd stopped taking the pain killers, but she was on the verge of asking for one. Cutting them off like she had hadn't been good for her mental health, but she couldn't keep taking them.

"He constantly works himself to death so he can come here six times a year. The man's a moron, but Emily loves him." She smirked.

Emily had been listening, hiding by the wall that separated the kitchen and living room slightly. She grinned. Michael was coming! That meant that she could show him the things she'd made, and they would play with Linoon!

.~.~.~.~.~

"They haven't said anything to indicate that they'd give any information up. Mostly they're just talking about what they did when they were in Team Rocket." Grant said into the phone. "Do you have any leads on my brother?"

He sighed as he received his answer. It had been a no. "I'm going to go visit Jenifer tomorrow. Could you put someone else on babysitting duty for a while?"

That had been a yes, although a rather curt one with a reminder to remember his place. "Sorry boss..."

The rooftop was silent while Grant listened to the phone. After a few minutes of listening and thinking he spoke. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I know we haven't heard anything for a while, but no news is good news, right?"

"Not when you're the leader of a worldwide organization. I expect you to set up the flight." Giovanni pressed the end button on his phone. He would disguise himself and 'check in' on Sterling, Silver, and Keri. Which mostly meant spending a day watching them and making sure everything was okay. Before that though, he had to check in on the Almia Castle prison.

The last six times, Keri hadn't noticed him, but he was worried about Silver seeing though his typical disguise. He'd made a promise, and even though he had wanted to keep it... He couldn't just let his granddaughter grow up without knowing what she looked like. And if they'd ever gotten into any serious trouble... "I must be getting soft." He smirked, looking in the mirror. Tie smoothed down, black suit, hat placed. He took a blood red rose out of a vase on the hotel room and carefully placed it in his jacket so just the bloom was showing.

"You are getting soft." He heard a voice growl. "You didn't even notice me... you must be getting relaxed."

Giovanni turned around slowly, carefully making eye contact with the man holding the gun. "What makes you think I wasn't just ignoring you? I'm too busy to mess around with people playing Detective."

"I'm Detective Carl Andrews of the International Police, Don Giovanni. I'm placing you under arrest-" The man was hardly more than a boy, hard gray eyes, half his head shaved while the rest of his black hair was about five inches long.

Giovanni began to laugh. "You don't look much like a detective," he stopped laughing and looked seriously at the boy. "So what are you going to do if I don't surrender? Kill me? Do you even have the faintest idea of the chaos that would cause?"

The boy just glared hard at him. Holding the gun steady. Carl looked very much like one of his own recruits. Young, but strong. Although he would never allow something like the boys haircut in his own business... and he knew for a fact that she wouldn't either. "I'll tell you. First, there would be a very very short period of calm, as everyone in Team Rocket realized what had happened. Then, after it really sank in, and probably even before that, the wars would begin. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"

The boy gave the slightest shake of his head. Giovanni continued. "See, there are a lot of very very powerful people in this organization. And every single one of them would want my position. Some have tried to kill me for it before. I rule a very unsteady kingdom very well. I keep everyone in check, I have loyal servants. If I fall though... there is absolutely nothing that will stop the world you love from becoming a battle ground."

Carl Frowned... "That's..."

"Almost the exact same speech that your boss gave you? Except you don't work for the International Police. Me and Charlotte have a deal, but you've never met Charlotte. If she were going to kill me, she would do it at our meeting." Giovanni smirked. He had no idea who this boy was working for, even though he had suspicions. He would wait to find out.

The boy seemed to be truly confused... and that's when Giovanni pulled his gun and shot him. "Now... would you like to meet Charlotte?" He had to admit, he was impressed. Whoever this kid said he was... Carl? Yes, that's what he'd said his name was. He hadn't even screamed, instead he was just holding his hand, keeping an eye on where his gun had landed. "I believe you've been misinformed about who you're working for... The fact that you managed to get past my guards is impressive... You could get very far in this organization... Or the International Police."

"I'm not joining Team Rocket. You killed my best friend!" Carl snarled, still eying his gun. It had to be apparent now that he wouldn't be able to get it...

"Then I'll introduce you to Charlotte. She'll be pleased to meet you and might even place you in advanced training early." He walked towards the boy... "Now I want you to keep your hands in front of you, and I want you to follow every instruction I give you or you'll have a bullet in your back so fast you can't blink."

To the door, down the hall, hotel restaurant, private room, yes that wine will do fine, if you could overlook that, yes, good, "She should be here in a few minutes."

Carl squirmed. Giovanni still had the gun pointed at him, across the booth. Obviously the waiters were used to things like this because they had barely questioned the man. He'd been entirely misinformed, all he had to do was arrest the old guy... who was supposedly harmless. He'd get out of this...

"Giovanni... who's our guest?" A woman in a red dress stepped into the booth. She looked over the boy and he got the distinct impression of being completely and utterly naked. It was like she was staring right through him.

"Carl Andrews I believe. Someone has been playing Detective. Someone _else_ has been playing at your job too." He kept his gun out.

"Is he bleeding?"

"I shot him. He had a gun on me."

"Ahh... He should probably get that looked at soon."

"I just shot the gun out of his hand. The bullet probably ended up in the plaster. They're going to start charging me for repairs. This is the fourth person this year."

"They must think you're getting old." She took a seat across from him. "Pity. So, I take it he's not going to join Team Rocket?"

"With a haircut like that?" He chuckled. "Hell no."

"I take it you've already given him the speech we give all of our assassins?"

"Yes... he's strong, so I'd suggest starting him off with someone either strong or insane. You have that agent out in Almia right? The crazy Dragonite guy?"

"Technically he's been fired..."

Giovanni smirked. "Once one always one? You were the first one to say it, and I've heard it several times since. Many members who quit or run away have said it. Not that they knew I was listening."

"I'll see what I can do... no telling with Jack though... last I heard, he'd kidnapped some poor sap and gotten them fired for the second time. Before that, I heard he'd been traveling with some of your agents." She stared pointedly at him.

A waiter appeared in the doorway, glancing quizzically at the gun in Giovanni's hand. He sighed... "May I take your order?"

Giovanni waved a hand at him. "Tell Burkley we want the usual."

The waiter turned and left, shaking his head slightly. Every time they came to the restaurant... Giovanni smirked. "It's a long story, and I'm not exactly in on all the details. It's hard to tell the fact from the fiction... Of course you must know I'm not just giving him to you for free?"

Carl was glaring at both of them. "I'm right here, you know!"

Charlotte looked him over again. "We should fix that. Room three-three-zero. Go straight there, and if you don't then it won't be easy on you."

Giovanni slid out of the booth and let the boy out, keeping his gun trained on him the entire time. Carl quickly left. Charlotte watched as he sat back down. "How do you know he won't just run off?"

Giovanni shrugged. "I honestly don't care that much... I still have a favor to ask."

She frowned. "Shoot."

"You know that Silver has spent more than enough of his time trying to bring me down," Charlotte nodded and he continued. "Well, I finally caught him about six years ago. The plan shouldn't have worked, not after what happened to my agent... but it did. You know how much I hate to ask for favors, but I'm not asking for either business. I'm asking for the sake of family." She could see what it took him to ask, and pretended to consider it for a few seconds.

"You should start at the beginning... Some of my agents have been talking about this. I want to know what it's about."

He smiled, a small smile that he reserved for calm conversations. He took a deep breath and relaxed. "I'll tell it the way it's been spreading... and you can ask about the details later."

"It started with a girl named Keri Fletcher. She was eighteen, and she wanted out..."

XOX

I know it's been a while, and I hope you'll forgive me. I decided I'd just start off with chapter four from scratch, and it turned out better than I thought it would. Without everything fresh in my brain I had to go back and re-read from the beginning.

The good news is that I'm back, and I can still kick out a chapter and get it edited in three days. I was going to cut the part with Giovanni and Charlotte, but I'm thinking it will be important later that you know her.

Thanks so much for continuing to read, and thanks for the encouragement.

I know there was at least one mistake in here, but when I went back looking for it I couldn't find it. Tell me where it is if you spot it please. Or any others you find, really.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, and Three.

Thanks Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to DarkPhoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage(whoever you are) for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Silver woke, and for a second had no idea where he was. He tensed... then relaxed. He could hear Keri beside him... he rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her in the hollow between her shoulder and neck. She woke, surprised for a second, then she took a deep breath, and turned on her side, meeting his eyes. She shut them again, running her hands gently across his chest as he slowly traced patterns on her back with his fingers. He closed his eyes and began kissing her again, slowly up from her neck, along her jaw and onto her lips. He slowly broke contact, and kissed down her throat, the exchange of touch entirely silent until he got to the base of her throat. She let out a tiny whimper, a light shudder running through her body.

She ran her hands onto his back, light drumming fingertip patterns along his shoulders, spine, pressing up against him. Eyes wide open with a gasp as his hands made their way from her back to her front, the gasp followed by another whimper. "Silver..." The breath shuddered out of her. He began kissing her again... "shhh..." He rolled, pinning her under him, he looked into her eyes. In them was a sort of begging, a sort of fire... he kissed her again, running the fingertips of his right hand slowly down her body...

And that's when the alarm clock went off.

Both jumped, startled. Keri couldn't help laughing, and Silver smirked. "I suppose we're supposed to get up."

Keri groaned, "nnooo..."

Silver kissed her, slowly down her neck and to the edge of her throat, making her fingers grow tighter on his back for a second. "Yes..."

She glared at him. "You're evil? You know that?"

"Yes, and it seems that you still have some self control problems... It will be much _much_ better if we get Sterling to school first." He smirked, but his eyes told her all she needed to know, the suggestion in that look was more than enough to make her shiver in anticipation.

"You _are_ evil," she growled. After a few seconds she took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "Fine. Lets get up."

.~.~.~.~.~

Giovanni paced, his plane was supposed to arrive in ten minutes. He'd been trying to get a hold of Charlotte for an hour now, but nothing was coming through. Suddenly his phone rang, and he flipped it open in a second, not bothering to find out who it was. "Yes?"

"Did you get the call?" She asked, worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm on my way now. The plane will be here in about twenty minutes..." He continued his pacing.

Charlotte could hear the thudding of his shoes through the phone. "You need to calm down... we both saw it coming."

"I just wish I'd visited him sooner! I should have asked you how he was doing, or I should have gone and visited... Dammit! What about Silver? He knew him too, I can't just not tell him this... even if he doesn't want me to contact him..." He stopped pacing and was just staring around the airport.

"I'll tell him. He'll be happy to find out he has an aunt who isn't the leader of an evil organization." She smirked on the other end of the phone.

Giovanni laughed. "Sure. He'll be excited to find out you're the other extreme. If he doesn't know who you are, Keri does. I'm pretty sure he's going to like you about as much as he likes me." Giovanni sighed. He was getting soft, he knew it. Five years ago he wouldn't have even considered changing his plans for this. It would have just been an inconvenience.

"I know what you're thinking. Fifty years or more, and we have everything at our fingertips. And when we finally stop fighting it's because our father is dying. Maybe after the funeral we should just go back to taking shots at one another. And you're probably right. Since I sent people to kill his girlfriend several times, he's probably not going to like me much."

"Going back to trying to kill each other and pretending we're not related sounds like a much better plan... Although if you _would_ keep them safe, for the sake of family?" He grimaced. Begging was far beneath him for just Silver, but you throw in Sterling... That little girl...

Charlotte's turn to laugh. "Jack Rain is already watching them, trust me on that. If he can't keep them safe, well, no one can... I do have a question though..."

"Shoot."

"Don't say that in an airport... any way, since when do you give a damn about family?"

Both were silent for a few seconds. Giovanni trying to come up with a way to answer. "Since when do you care?"

"Touche. If I didn't know better though, I'd say that that little girl has you tied around her finger. And that's _without_ you knowing her."

"If you ever get to see her, you'll know why. I have to go, someone is trying to hack into my phone." He snapped it shut, and continued his pacing.

Why did he care? He had no idea. After Stella had died, he hadn't thought he would ever care again. And he still needed someone to take over the team when he was dead. Grant could do it, but... Giovanni sighed. He looked up as an intercom announced his flight.

.~.~.~.~.~

Michael stared out into the snow. When he'd woken up, Jack hadn't been in the building across from his own. There had just been a note and a pokeball. "Only use him if you have too." Well, he was wishing right now that he knew what the Pokemon was because, soon after going back to his own hut, he'd seen some people in the camp. Taking no chances, he'd bundled up in the heavy gear left by the rangers. He'd been lucky to find a pair of boots that would fit, and the coat would do for now.

He stared out from the top of one of the cliffs, watching as people checked out the huts and spoke to one another. They didn't seem to be rangers, but he had no idea what kind of person would come out here in the freezing weather just to check out a few old huts that were falling apart. "Fricking crazy." He shivered.

He'd made his way to the top of the cliff, avoiding the people as best as he could. It looked like they were finding his things, and he was glad he'd had the foresight to grab his Linoon and pack earlier. One of them was waving his buddies over to Jacks hut. "Hope he didn't leave anything important. Cause it's gone now. Sorry Jack." He muttered to himself. For a second he wondered if he were insane, laying in the snow and talking to himself.

He looked at the pokeball in his hand. The only other Pokemon he could think of besides Hannah, that the detective owned, was that monster Gyarados. He knew he wouldn't be able to control that one at all. The Pokemon wouldn't have survived in this weather anyway, a flying and water type would freeze in seconds. He frowned. "I could go up to that old lady's hut... I'm sure she has a way to contact the rangers..."

"You do understand that you're wearing bright orange? I'm surprised the people on the ground haven't spotted you yet." Michael scrambled to turn around, and found himself looking at a man. He was about an inch shorter than he was, with jet black hair. A pair of glasses rested on his sharp nose, a thin frown on his face. He was wearing a black suit, and didn't seem to feel the cold at all.

"Who are you?" Michael slowly stood up.

"I'm in charge here. See, up ahead is a place called Almia Castle. It used to be used by rangers for training. Now... not so much. They began using it as a prison, because they didn't know what to do with the people they captured, who couldn't be... swayed." His glasses had begun to slide down his nose, and he carefully nudged them up again.

"So you escaped?" Michael got the distinct impression that this man was biding his time for something. He figured it would be better to keep him talking. He had no idea what this person had up their sleeve...

"Escaped is a crude word... it was really more of a matter of waiting for the right person. The rangers are no match for us. Giovanni was trying to get foot in this place, mostly so he could keep a closer eye on his prison. Sadly he underestimated the rangers... which is mostly my fault." He smirked... Michael was starting to get creeped out by this guy.

"I'm going to assume that you're a dangerous criminal." he could feel the wind starting up. It had been calm, but if the snow started up he'd have a better chance of escaping...

"Your assumption would be correct... most of the people down there call me The Doctor. Although... probably not the kind you're used to seeing, if you're one of the people our boss has been talking about." The man frowned, feeling the wind picking up.

Michael wanted nothing more, at that moment, than to be back at the hospital dealing with normal doctors. He got the distinct impression that this wasn't the kind of 'doctor' that healed people. He took a deep breath. He could just run... but what if the man had a strong- wait. Michael thought about it for a second. If this man had just come from a prison, then he wouldn't have any Pokemon on him! Now all he needed was a chance to run. Maybe squeeze out as much information as he could before he tried. "Who has your boss been talking about?"

The man gave a thin smile. "I'm not stupid... why would I just give up something like that for free, hmm? Although maybe you have some information I want... See, we're currently taking over that little place down there. It's going to be a base for us outside of the castle... And we're looking for a man named Jack Rain. He's supposedly a detective with a psychic Dragonite."

Michael bit his lip, fighting not to laugh. Of course they were looking for Jack! And of course the man was nowhere to be seen! He took a few seconds to calm down. "He's not there."

"And you don't have any idea where he is?"

"No..." He wondered if telling this man anything was a good idea. Then he decided that he wasn't exactly giving anything away. It didn't matter what happened, he couldn't tell this... 'doctor' or whatever, where Jack was, weather he knew or not. He had a very bad feeling about the whole situation.

"And you wouldn't happen to know anything about his Pokemon?" The Doctor smiled as Michael frowned. "So you do..."

"Not... really. I doubt I know anything interesting." The snow had begun to pick up with the wind... Michael gripped the pokeball in his hand. If he couldn't run, he would have to use it and Linoon. He had no idea how much the Normal type could take in this weather... but he doubted his chances were good. He still had no idea about the other Pokemon...

"Get him."

Time to run! Michael darted to the left, only to find his path blocked by... something. He'd never seen a Pokemon like it, a huge white and green monster. He darted to the left, only to find his path blocked by a man with a gun. He had a white coat. Michael ground his teeth in frustration as he backed up. Why couldn't the person with training for this kind of stuff be here! The pokeball...

"Fine." He growled. He threw the item out into the air. It didn't escape the notice of his attackers, but after the flash it was too late. He was gone, nothing left of him but the swirling snow.

The Doctor frowned. "He knows more than he thinks he does. Get a group together and begin searching immediately."

The man in the white coat nodded, returned his Pokemon, and began to make his way down the hill.

.~.~.~.~.~

Emily and Sterling stared at each other, both little more than serious frowns and wide open eyes. Ethan sighed. "I don't want to play this anymore!"

Both girls jumped, blinking at the same time. "Hey!" They shouted together, glaring at him.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do? It's recess, and it's raining out, and we're stuck in here, and-" Emily was cut off.

"Why don't we leave?"

Both Emily and Ethan stared at Sterling for a second. "And do what? Get into more trouble?" Emily looked around the room.

"We won't get in trouble." She said, folding her arms.

"Yes we will! The teacher would catch us and we'd be in trouble! Where would we go anyway?" Emily whispered.

"We could go to the basement." Ethan said, looking at the door. He'd been in the basement of the school before, it was a little creepy, but once you got used to that there were some really cool things down there. "The only one who goes down there is a ranger, and sometimes the janitors."

"Ethan! Leaving is a bad idea!" Emily glared at him, upset that he seemed to be taking Sterling's side on this.

"Come on Emily! You have to come!" Sterling whined, pouting slightly. Emily had to come, she had to!

"Why?"

"Because we're friends, and I can't go alone and even if Ethan came along you'd be here all alone and what if we found something really awesome?" She was excited just thinking about it, if no one went in the basement, then there could be treasure or something there!

Emily was quiet... She wanted to go, but she knew that her mom would be upset if she got in trouble... She considered it, if she were to go, she could get in trouble, but even if she did, she knew the punishment probably wouldn't be very harsh... Sterling was her friend... "Okay... but I'm bringing my backpack."

Sterling grinned, now they could go, it was boring in here... "Lets go!" She made herself whisper it.

"Wait a few minutes..." Ethan muttered. He was looking around the room, particularly at the cage where a small Natu was perched, staring out the window. "Do you think the storm is getting worse?"

Emily looked over to the window... "yeah, it looks like it's raining harder."

Sterling frowned... "Why should we wait?"

Her question was answered as a blinding flash lit up the room, and then all of the lights went out at once, a roar of thunder shaking the building. "Everybody calm down! The power will be back in a few minutes..." One of the teachers was trying to calm the panic that had come with the thunder.

Ethan grabbed Emily's hand, then Sterling's, and quickly led them out of the room, making sure the door didn't make a sound. "Are you okay?" He whispered to them both as soon as they were out of the room.

The halls seemed to be pitch black to the girls, and another rumble of thunder sounded. Sterling opened and shut her eyes a few times, trying to get them used to the dark. "I'm okay." If anything, she was even more excited than before.

Emily took a deep breath. Nothing to be afraid of... she told herself a few more times. "I have a flashlight in my backpack. Lets go."

Ethan kept hold of them and they went down the hall. "We shouldn't use the flashlight around the other classrooms." For a second the lights flickered, and all three children jumped. "You know, this was a bad idea. Maybe we _should_ go back." Ethan muttered.

Suddenly a light flicked on, and Emily dropped Ethan's hand. "I'm not going back now." She pointed her flashlight at him. "You go back, I'm not going to." She walked forward. Everyone knew where the basement was, even though no one went down there.

Sterling let go of Ethan and ran after her. "Wait up Emily!"

Ethan ran after them, silent. This had been his idea, all his... he had to go... They walked silently, finally arriving at a staircase. "Careful not to trip." Ethan said, looking down them nervously. Just down these stairs to the first floor, then the entrance to the basement was by the library.

Sterling was surprised they hadn't run into any grown ups, all they had to do was go down the rest of the hall, and they'd be there... Suddenly she jumped as she heard a low growl. All three children turned around, to see a Growlithe crouched, staring at them. Ethan released his breath, relieved. "It's just Pepper."

He crouched down, and the puppy Pokemon trotted over. "Since the power is out the front doors lock probably won't work." He scratched her between the ears, and stood up. "Lets hurry." He felt better with the puppy Pokemon there, knowing that she would keep him safe.

They walked quickly, and Sterling nearly jumped at seeing the basement door. Then she frowned for a second. Normally the door was locked... but... she grabbed the handle and pulled. The door came open easily. "Lets go! Emily, since you have the flashlight you take the lead!" If the electric lock on the front doors wouldn't work, then none of them would work, otherwise they would have just been stuck standing there.

Emily grabbed the rail and carefully took the stairs, as soon as he could, Ethan followed. Sterling let the door swing behind her as she began descending the stairs. Pepper was staying close behind Ethan's feet, sniffing the air. Emily stopped at the bottom of the stairs, shining her flashlight around. "We're going to get into so much trouble Sterling..."

"Probably... Wow! Look at this place! It's huge!" She took a few steps in, looking around at the stacked boxes and old desks. Even with those using up so much space, and being unable to see very far because of the dark, the basement seemed giant.

Emily looked around with worry. She didn't like the dark, and if their flashlight broke down here it would be a lot harder to get out than if it had broken upstairs. She looked around. Sterling seemed too excited, and Ethan was standing there, one hand clenched into a fist, the other holding onto the Growlithe. "You okay Ethan?"

He jumped slightly, startled. "I'm okay... Come on, to the left there's another room. The janitor says that a bunch of older kids used to hang out there." He started walking ahead.

Emily frowned, hanging back just a little. It didn't take long for Sterling to hold back and start walking next to her. Both were silent. Sterling had sensed that something was wrong, and after glancing back at Emily, she'd decided to walk with her. Finally she took a deep breath. "Something's wrong Sterling. I don't like it here."

"I don't either," Sterling stopped walking, and called out. "Ethan, come on, lets go back."

Ethan walked over to them. "What's wrong?"

"Something is wrong here." Emily looked around.

Ethan crouched down, looking at Pepper. "You're right, something doesn't feel right." He quickly unhooked something from her collar, and stuck it in his pocket. "We should go."

They began walking back towards the entrance, sticking close to each other. Pepper was walking ahead of them. Sterling hummed quietly, a prickling feeling on the back of her neck. She saw something out of the corner of her eye, and turned her head to look at it, but whatever had been there was gone. Probably just a ghost Pokemon. She couldn't hear anything but the sound of their shoes hitting the cement floor, like an irregular drumbeat.

Emily listened intently, ears straining. She had the sensation that they were being followed, but kept her eyes ahead. If there was something behind them, then they could run for the exit.

To Ethan, it seemed to be taking longer for them to get back to the exit than it had for them to get away from it, and as soon as he saw the stairs he breathed a sigh of relief, then screamed at the top of his lungs as something dark crashed into him.

XOX

I've been having computer and headache issues, or this would have been up a long time ago. I was going to make this chapter longer, but four pages into the next part I realized that splitting it into two would work much better. Since I'm already halfway done with it, the next chapter shouldn't take long for me to get done, although it will probably have to wait until Wednesday because I'm busy until then.

I keep looking at the changing leaves, it's so weird that it's already fall. Last year took forever to go by, I guess this year is making up for that. I feel like I need to write faster, which I'm sure you wouldn't mind.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to DarkPhoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Keri was sitting at the table across from Silver. He kept looking worriedly out the window. The power was still out, and they had placed candles around the room to light it. Annie Greer was talking about how her children and grandchildren had all gone off, deciding to become rangers and trainers and coordinators. Keri was politely asking questions and listening, but couldn't help wondering what Silver was thinking about.

"What did you do, Keri, before you came here?" Annie asked, glancing out the window as a strike of lightening lit up the sky. "You said that you were a trainer for a while, right?"

Keri smiled. "Yes, I started training when I was thirteen... during my first month I ran into some trouble though, and it took me about five years to get out."

"That had to have been bad... couldn't you have gone to the police, or maybe some rangers to help you?" She looked at her worriedly.

"No, it wasn't really the sort of thing they could have helped with." Keri frowned. Annie was a good friend, but it was hard to work around some of her questions. She felt a little bad about not answering honestly, but didn't really want to have to spend the time it would take to explain.

Mrs. Greer looked at Silver, who was just staring out the window. She didn't really trust him, he had an odd look in his eyes that spelled out trouble. "What about you Silver? Were you a trainer?"

The question startled him for a second, but he smirked. Annie would have taken slight offense to the look, except more than half the time it was the expression on his face. She remembered telling her grandchildren that if they made faces like that they would stick...

"Yes, I was a trainer for a long time. I still consider myself one, although I did have some problems a few years ago, and haven't been able to do any proper training since. You said that you have a grandson that became a trainer, maybe we crossed paths once or twice?" He was having a hard time not telling her to just mind her own business. He could tell from the way she looked at him that she didn't really like him.

In her mind, Annie made the connection to Keri having problems, and how it seemed that Silver had run into the same trouble a few years ago. It also hit her that whatever this trouble was, it was the reason he hadn't been around. Instead of bringing this up though, she gladly went along with the subject change. She could look into this a little more later. "It's possible, his name is Nathaniel Hale, my daughters son. He's a few years older than you though, and prefers painting to training now. He just got married, although his wife is a little odd. She insisted on having the wedding on a boat just to make her grandfather happy, not that that's a bad thing..."

Keri was staring at Annie as she spoke, in open-mouthed shock. Silver was unreadable, but he really just wanted to laugh. Annie noticed Keri's expression, and stopped. "What's wrong Keri? You look like I just said the world was going to end."

Silver smirked, and cleared his throat. "I have met your grandson, Mrs. Greer... Both Keri and I actually traveled with him and his fiance for a couple weeks. And several other people." Silver was watching Keri. There was something strange behind her eyes, like she was trying to remember something.

"Isn't it funny how everything seems to connect somehow? At the wedding he told me about that, but he never said any of your names..." she blinked once, then grinned at them. "That's what your trouble was! And that means..." suddenly she frowned, "Keri... Keri Fletcher... The International Police has been trying to get rid of you for years."

She was silent for a minute, the entire room was silent. Then she spoke again, pointing at Silver. "That means that you're Silver _Giovanni_." Annie sighed and shook her head. "How do the two of the most dangerous people on the planet end up meeting like that?"

The last statement surprised Keri, "What do you mean?"

Annie shook her head. "You're lucky I'm more fond of you than I ever was of Charlotte, dear, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I mean, you managed to break into the League and get out with some of their most important files. And that was one of the easier things you did, or at least that's what Danny's told me."

"It was just another mission." She mumbled, staring out across the room. She hadn't realized... was she really that ignorant? Had these things been hidden from her on purpose? She had known that she was good, better than most, but _that_ good? She'd had plenty of help on several of those missions, it hadn't always been her alone... Suddenly she remembered, Daniel Greer... Something about his name...

Silver was on fire. He gripped the edge of the table, staring out the window, eyes burning. What Annie had said, that the I.P. Had been trying to get rid of her... if she had been considered that dangerous, then they hadn't been planning on just catching her and putting her in jail. That meant that she was on the kill list. He managed to calm down somewhat, taking deep breaths. "Annie... You said that they've been trying to get rid of her for years. In present tense. It's also very very obvious that you used to work for the International Police. If Keri is still wanted, then we need to get out of here. Immediately." He did his best to keep his voice calm. Her attitude towards him seemed to have changed for the better, but his towards her had worsened.

"You can relax, my son and a couple grandchildren work for them, I did for a couple years, but _having children _somewhat ruins working for international organizations. I know a lot more than I should about both, I tend to snoop quite a bit. And if you have enough facts, you can put things together easy enough." She paused for a second, then waved her finger at Silver again. "You... did you know your Aunt Charlotte is the leader of the International Police? Amazing really, it's like some sort of sibling rivalry gone out of hand. Of course, you have nothing to worry about, both of them avoid really harming family. From what my son has told me, I believe you have a cousin somewhere in Orre, but he's not fond of... oh..." she finally stopped, seeing Silver twitch slightly.

Keri stood and walked around the table, "Silver." She let her had rest on his shoulder. He took one of his off the table and let it rest on hers. One deep breath... two... eyes shut. "I thought my father and grandfather were it."

Annie looked out the window, the rain seemed to be stopping, and suddenly the power jumped on again. "Maybe we should talk another time... I should go and find my Meowth anyway, he's probably gotten himself into all sorts of trouble." She stood out of her chair. She had just talked on, not really realizing what she was saying. She always said too much, that's what had gotten her into so much trouble when she was younger. She had just been excited... It was something more to talk about than what her Pokemon had brought home the previous evening, that was sure.

"It's okay Annie, I'll talk to you later." Keri smiled at her, and Annie showed herself out.

Silver was staring at the window, watching the water run down the pane of glass. He felt almost like a child saying it, but he said it anyway. "I have family." It sounded like his aunt was much the same as Giovanni, trying too hard to be in control, but it was more than he'd ever considered. And somewhere out there he had a cousin... someone who may just have the same feelings on the family situation as himself.

Keri didn't know what to say. They were both silent, Keri just keeping her hand on his shoulder, and Silver kept his eyes shut. A sudden ring of the phone made them both jump. Keri quickly grabbed it. "Hello?"

She listened, and Silver watched her, watched as she grew worried, then suddenly shocked as she let the device slide from her hand. It smacked into the floor with a plastic thwack, and Silver could hear a low buzzing from it. Almost instantly he grew panicked, grabbing the thing off the floor, he pressed it to his ear. "What's wrong? What happened?" He had to fight to keep from shouting.

The other end was silent for a moment... "After the power came on we had all of the teachers take attendance..." Silvers eyes grew wide as the person on the other end paused. "...Sterling wasn't in her classroom," in his mind he pleaded. Please just be calling because she's in trouble, please just be calling because you found her hiding in a closet somewhere, please just be calling because... please... "we couldn't find her, and..."

He gripped the white plastic phone, hearing the plastic creak slightly. "You looked everywhere?" He had to fight to make the words come out. He knew their answer, that they had, that every corner of the school had been checked a hundred times already...

"Yes... there's more... I'm sorry, maybe you could come out to the school? We're releasing the students early. I'm on a cell phone, the power just went back out, and the emergency reserve isn't working. I'm so sorry..."

"We'll be there." He turned off the phone, gripping it so tightly he herd it crack. He stood rigid, unsure if he could move, unsure if he could move without destroying something. Nothing but blind fear, nothing but blind fury, was ripping through him. How could they loose her!

Keri had been watching him, and she took a deep breath. She was scared, terrified, but it was Sterling, she had probably just wandered off and found some sort of secret passage or something. It was like she had gotten every ounce of curiosity that she and Silver both possessed, added to by her natural ability to sneak around anything... She kept telling herself this to relax. Silver was trembling, Keri noticed he was crushing the poor phone to pieces. She carefully wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. He finally let the phone drop to the floor, and she heard it snap and break as it hit the tile of the kitchen. He was breathing hard, as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, she buried her head in his shoulder.

Silver was still trembling, unable to fully calm down, even while holding her, even while she held him. There was an odd choking noise, and it took a few seconds for Silver to realize that it was coming through his clenched teeth. He couldn't make it stop, and Keri realized before he did, as she felt the back of her shirt slowly grow wet, he was crying.

.~.~.~.~.~

Jason scanned the clearing, unsure of which direction to go for a second. "Which way, which way?" He took a deep breath, and shut his eyes, letting instinct guide him. He finally found himself on a small Pokemon trail, leading north. Soon it widened out into a proper path. He'd made good progress, just a few more days, a few more days. "Don't want to miss anything. Don't want to-"

"Don't want to miss the show huh? Or disappoint your boss?" Jack stepped from behind a tree, eyes looking dangerous to the ranger, who backed up a step.

"Who are you?" Jason growled. He was defenseless, he couldn't capture Pokemon right now, not with how he was being guided...

"My name is Jack Rain. And I believe that we're both guided by something similar. Although you were given more of a choice, you're much more confused and unhappy, aren't you? And everyone else from that experiment died." He frowned, leaning against a tree.

Jason, for some reason, relaxed considerably. Mostly returning to his normal self. "You've seen it too then, the Ninetales. I think he's the only reason I'm alive. I was sick, so sick all the time, and when Grant told me about the experiment I had to try it... "

Jack nodded. "I know. It told me to find you last night, before you got too far. He connected me with my Pokemon, her name is Hannah. She's a Dragonite, we can communicate with our minds, and we share our pain. But... that's not how it is with you."

"Shadow Lurker is my pain, we see things together, feel things together, but he's stronger than I am. The experiment, what they were trying to do was get some cells of his to merge with the cancer and kill it, but... something went wrong, like it did with everyone else. Then I saw the Ninetales, like a dream. All three of us, me and haunter and him. We were all the same, we could feel and hear, and see the same, and after that I don't remember anything. I remember waking up to some sort of panic, and seeing people, and knowing that I was better, but..." Jason stopped, staring at Jack. Except for the form it had taken, and the way it had been done, were they really the same? Why was he saying all of this... no, he knew why, and so did Shadow... they needed someone who understood...

"You had changed. He's part of you, but he can't leave you... I think something is going to happen to change that soon. Right now he affects your thinking too much, and both of you, together the way you are, make it too easy for darkness to take over." Jack wasn't sure where the words were coming from, other than he felt it, and it was what was.

Jason nodded. "Do you think there are more? Like us?"

Jack sighed. "I don't know kid. I think there are, but I don't think we're supposed to go looking for each other unless we're told to."

Jason yawned, suddenly tired. He wavered on his feet, and before his eyes shut, he noticed a large Dragonite appear in front of Jack.

"_He fell asleep._" She said, catching the boy. "_He is much weaker than the Pokemon connected to him._"

"_I know._" Jack said to her, watching as the boys fingers flexed, suddenly his eyes opened back up. "Hello Shadow Lurker."

Jack was surprised as the Pokemons voice suddenly sounded in his head, although it hurt like someone was driving a needle into his brain. "_Let us go, we have to get to the castle, to the other Ghosts._"

Jack ground his teeth. "Why?"

"_To help, to help. We've been called by the shadow that lurks there. Let me go!_"

The pain spiked suddenly, and Jack lost control of his legs, falling to the ground. "_Help me Hannah!_" He screamed to her, fingers digging into the ground. Was this what it felt like for the boy? This perverse excuse for a connection? "Just because you're called doesn't mean you have to go!" he growled.

This seemed to surprise the boy, or the Haunter, somehow. "_But... you are right... It is strong though, and we are supposed to be there. There is a boy... he is calling too..._"

Suddenly Jack saw what the Haunter must have been seeing, just a quick flash, but long enough to feel what the Pokemon felt too. This was some sort of horrid mash of what he and Hannah shared, because as the image faded the pain spiked again, and Jack screamed. For a second he thought the pain would kill him. Hannah was frightened, unable to connect to him. Jack took a deep breath. "It's okay, it will be. The boys call, it's stronger than the other?"

"_Yes._"

Suddenly the pain faded to a dull throbbing, and the boy collapsed completely. Hannah half laid him down and half dropped him, dating over to Jack. "_Are you okay? __Jack? Can you hear me?_"

His breath shuddered into his body. "_I can hear you... I don't think I can move though, it will be a while._" His whole body felt like it had been beaten.

"_Jack..._" she whined, "_What happened? I could hear you, but I couldn't connect to you at all._" She crouched and lay down beside him, carefully draping one of her wings across him.

"_I don't entirely know. Somehow Shadow Lurker was talking to me... it hurt so much I though it was going to kill me._" He shuddered, then slowly and carefully wrapped his arms around her. "_Hannah..._"

"_You should rest..._" She curled around him.

Jack smiled, leaning his head against her chest. "_Okay._" He sighed. He could argue with her about how much he needed to rest later. "_Make sure Jason doesn't leave or anything._"

"_I will. You just rest... Jack?_"

"_Yeah?_"

"_...I...I..._"

"_Shh. It's okay. I love you too._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver was quiet, a frown on his face, a calm exterior. He didn't trust himself to speak, and he didn't trust himself to move without her. He was holding her hand more for support than anything else... hadn't he trained himself better than this? He kept thinking to himself. He had worked hard to make sure he could keep a level head in any situation, but... he squeezed her hand tighter, then released it a little, realizing that he was probably hurting her. He had trained himself to be calm, but in the face of this, it was like someone had stripped away every ounce of his self control. The only thing keeping him from going completely insane right now was Keri. How did anyone train for something like this?

They were keeping a steady pace, walking to the school. Silver wanted to run, but didn't trust himself. The steady pace was helping him keep a level head. The school came into view, and they were surprised to see Viox standing outside, in the rain, as if she were waiting for them. She walked up to them. "Thank God, you're here. Emily is missing, apparently so is Ethan. They wouldn't let me inside until you got here."

Keri was surprised, but she just nodded. "Are Ethan's parents here?"

Viox grimaced. "His father is off on business somewhere, apparently... Ethan seems to mostly be taken care of by his fathers Pokemon. The rangers told me that a Slowking comes and picks him up every day." She said as if the fact somewhat disturbed her.

"Lets go inside." Keri said. She was even more worried now. What if Sterling had run off into the woods or something? What if she had dragged those two off somewhere off on some random adventure she'd thought up? It could take days to find her...

As they walked up the steps, two rangers finally opened the door. Viox glared at them, but couldn't hold the look long as worry replaced it. "Emily would never normally do this sort of thing..." She said, hands balled up into fists.

The rangers led them down a hallway, where they met the principal of the school. He looked extremely nervous and worried. "We've looked everywhere. Rangers have looked through the school several times... one found something..." he looked like he didn't want to say anything more. "Look, why don't you just go downstairs, and he'll explain everything there."

All three looked at each other, little more than worry and anxiety was mirrored in each of them. Keri took a deep breath, and led the way through an open door, hand trailing against the wall as she descended the dark stairs. At the bottom there was more light, and she could see a ranger from the back, examining the ground. Silver and Viox stepped behind her, Silver frowned...

The ranger stood up, carefully brushing off his uniform. "Please don't attack me." Grant turned around, a frown on his face, something like... concern, in his eyes.

Keri immediately grabbed Silver, fingers digging into his shoulders. She could feel the static off of him, the fire in his eyes looked as if it could physically burn someone. "Silver. Silver!" She finally got his attention, his eyes met hers, and suddenly all of the fire drained out of them. It almost frightened her, how fast the change had happened... "he wouldn't be here if it were them," she said, slowly releasing her hands from his shoulders.

He shook his head. "I know."

Grant relaxed, as soon as he'd turned around, he'd taken the defensive. Silvers look alone had screamed murder just a second ago. Grant took a deep breath, and released it. "We don't know what happened. Giovanni put me on babysitting duty, I've been keeping an eye on Sterling and Keri for years now. I was watching the school through the cameras when the power went out. After that, I was inside too late. They were already gone."

Silver took a deep breath, and released it in a shudder. "They said you knew something."

Grant nodded, still a little wary. "I've been trying to contact Giovanni for hours now, but his phone is off. I think someone, someone who either holds a grudge against you or him, kidnapped her, and her friends. I think when the power went out, they came here to explore, and whoever it was decided to grab them then, while the power was out and the locks on the doors wouldn't work."

Keri frowned at him, face scrunched up in anger. "How would you know that?" she snarled. Sterling couldn't have been kidnapped, no one had known where they were for years! No one! Viox was surprised. Keri suddenly looked very dangerous, leaning forward, hands hovering just above her waist, as if prepared to grab a weapon. Like she was prepared to grab her gun...

"Calm down. You would have put together the same things, if you'd seen this. I had nothing to do with this, I only follow Giovanni's orders." Grant backed away from where he had been standing, to reveal a stack of boxes, smeared with black paint. The paint had run down the sides of the cardboard and wood in some places, making the message look almost grotesque. 'REVENGE LEGION'

Revenge... Keri focused on that word, revenge meant death. It meant someone wanted blood, and they didn't care whose blood they got, as long as it hurt the person that had wronged them. She suddenly felt sick... "Sterling..."

Silver rested a hand on her shoulder. Viox shut her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Whoever did this wants more than our children, or we would have already found them," she said, ice in her voice. Silver glanced at her, her eyes were cold, her body was relaxed, and she looked alert, "whoever did this wants something from _us_. They've been watching us for a long time, waiting for this chance. Silver, when you and Keri get home, contact your father. Keri, keep an eye out for any other messages. Grant, look up anyone at all that Team Rocket, me, Keri or Silver has had contact with, including past Rocket members. Rule out anyone that you're positive isn't suspicious. I'm going to try to get into contact with Michael or Detective Rain."

Grant frowned at her. "Who died and made you boss?"

Viox glared at him, then hissed, "does someone _have to die_? Because I'm more than willing to make it happen."

Grant rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll do it..." He was supposed to be on vacation right now, home with his wife and pretending that he didn't have to worry about his brother disappearing. Pretending that he didn't have to worry about Team Rocket for just a few days... Then the stupid rocket who was supposed to take over is a day late, and he gets stuck in _this _mess...

Silver just nodded, and he and Keri went up the stairs, as they climbed, determination grew with them. The principal greeted them at the top of the steps. "I never expected something like this could happen, I promise that we'll do-"

He was surprised at the fire, burning in both of their eyes. Silver smirked... "We'll find them."

"Sir... the rangers are already out looking, and every entrance and exit to the city is being watched." He frowned. Something was odd about this...

Silver shook his head, smirk replaced by a frown. His eyes still had the determination, but there was something more there for a second... "If you haven't found them yet, you're not going to. We have connections... we'll find them."

The principal wondered for a second if he were crazy, then stepped back and watched them walk out of the building. For a second, he had felt very uncomfortable. That man was dangerous, very very dangerous and, the principal felt that, what he said was true. He shuddered slightly. Something about the red haired man struck him as familiar, although he couldn't place why.

.~.~.~.~.~

The boat arrived at the pier alone, no one was there to greet it, aside from a young woman, leaning heavily on a cane. She had waited inside the check in building, and had come outside as soon as the storm had cleared up. Katrina stared at it... she hadn't spent very long on the small vessel, but she had missed it. She grinned as a door on the deck opened up, and Madison stepped outside. "Madison!" Kat waved, glad to see that she was okay.

She smiled down from the prow of the boat. "Hi Kat!"

A few seconds later, Madison grabbed Katrina in a hug. "It's so good to see you, you have no idea. When you called yesterday and told us about everyone... it feels like it's been forever since we saw anyone at all."

"I was worried you wouldn't make it with the storm. I'm glad you're okay..."

"I'm more worried about you." Madison said, backing up a step and frowning at her seriously.

Kat sighed, "I'd rather deal with the pain than take the risks. Technically I'm still part of Team Rocket, even if I am useless to them. I don't have any real records... I don't want to run into legal trouble just for a new prescription. We were lucky with the wedding, Dominic knew everyone involved."

"Kat, I don't care about the prescription, I care about the baby!" Madison frowned at her... something was wrong. Katrina looked down, twisting her fingers. "You haven't told him yet." Kat shook her head. She hadn't told _anyone_ yet... not even Madison...

"I wasn't supposed to... be able to have kids." She kept her head down. She'd told Dominic that the prescription had run out. She'd used it as an excuse to stop taking the pain killers, saying that she didn't want to get addicted to them anyway. In reality, she still had at least four refills, and an entire half bottle hidden in the back of a cupboard at home. "It's been years... I told him it wasn't possible, I've been told by everyone since I was fourteen it wasn't possible... What if he doesn't want him? Or her?" Katrina choked out the last words, and began crying.

Madison wrapped her in a hug. "Shhh... Kat... I've only met Dominic twice, I don't know what he would think, but I _know_ that he will want that child."

"We finally got settled though... he's finally got his career as a ranger, and we caught up on all of our bills..."

"Kat, look at me."

Madison held her at an arms length. Kat looked at her, then in her eyes. "Katrina, are you afraid that he won't love you anymore?"

She bit her bottom lip, and shook her head.

"Then what are you afraid of? You will be _fine_ Katrina. The bills won't matter, and if you're worried about being a parent, look at Viox. Look at Silver and Keri. Would you have ever expected any of them to even make decent parents six years ago? No, you wouldn't have, and you didn't. You have not been given a burden, you have been given a miracle you were told was impossible. And Dominic will realize that too." The look in her eyes was intense, but after a few seconds it softened.

Kat was still crying, but she felt much better. "Thanks Madison..." she laughed a little, "if you had told me ten years ago that Viox Creed was going to make a good mother, I would have thought it was a joke."

Nathan walked up behind his wife. "Why is it, that you aren't a counselor?" He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. "Because every time you get someone alone, they end up spilling their guts to you."

Katrina paled... "you heard me?"

Nathan shook his head, then rested his chin lightly on Madison's shoulder. "No, but you had that look on your face. Grandpa is supposed to be somewhere around here, right? Please tell me you didn't leave him alone."

Kat grinned. "No, but Dominic has had his hands full, that's for sure. He spent the night in the spare bedroom in our apartment last night. After Silver and Keri made him leave _theirs_."

Nathan shook his head with a sigh. "Well, I doubt he didn't deserve to be kicked out but-"

"Nathan!" Madison objected, trying to turn around to glare at him.

"You know it's true!" he laughed, planting a kiss on her cheek. "Anyway, while we're here, I figured I would visit my grandmother. I should get her address so I can send her some letters. Or at least Christmas cards..."

"You're hopeless." Madison sighed.

"Come on, you two should sleep in a proper bed tonight. We got a hotel room for you. We could only pay for the first couple nights..." Kat smiled at them, leading the way into the boat check in building.

"Kat, you shouldn't have, really..."

"It's okay, besides, we had to find somewhere else to put your grandfather."

XOX

That was somewhat... emotional. To say the least, if it didn't make you at least moderately upset, you're a monster. Although one could say I'm the monster in this situation...

I'm sure that some of you have put two and two together in this chapter with some things from Silvers Kiss. Please keep those connections to yourself. Do **Not** put them in your reviews.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to DarkPhoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Giovanni turned on his phone, and looked at the screen. There were more than thirty missed calls since yesterday. Most of them were from Grant, but the others were from a number he didn't recognize. "Trace number." He muttered to the phone.

A few seconds later the phone rang, and he flipped it open, glaring at the wall of the building he was outside of. He didn't bother to check the number, figuring it was Grant again. "Yes?"

"Giovanni?"

"Who is this?" He didn't recognize the voice, it sounded familiar, but the phone distorted it.

"Silver. Sterling is missing, and..." Silver, on the other side, ground his teeth. Giovanni was surprised, and frowned... then it hit him, Sterling was missing!

Keri growled, and grabbed the phone from him. "Some asshole kidnapped my daughter and we need help. Weather we like it or not. Grant was watching her when the power went out, but before he could get inside the school, she was gone along with Ethan, her friend, and Emily, Viox's daughter. They had decided to randomly explore the basement for God knows what reason, and down there they found a message from the kidnappers. It said Revenge Legion, and looked like it had been quickly painted using supplies already in the basement. We're _concerned_ it may be someone that you've made an enemy out of. Not that _that _would be new." She snarled the last sentence, and Giovanni raised his eyebrows in surprise. Very few people had ever spoken to him that way and lived.

For a second, he smirked. This would give him the upper hand... Then he remembered her face, Sterling. The last time he had gone to 'visit' he had hidden in the park, feeding Pidgy and watching her run around the fountain... She had been singing a silly little rhyme that parents sung to their children at bed time, then she'd stopped and looked right at him. After a second, she'd run over, startling the Pidgy. "Hi!"

He'd made an effort to look disinterested, but he couldn't help looking at her... "Hello. Hasn't your mother ever told you not to talk to strangers?" She looked so much like Silver it was disorienting.

"No, she tells me to trust my instincts." She'd crawled up on the bench, looking into the bag of birdseed, then looking at him, squinting her eyes. "Do I know you?"

He'd smiled... "I've never met you before. They call me Dono."

"I'm Sterling... Nice meeting you! I have to go now, bye!" She'd jumped off the bench and run back over to Keri, who had been calling. He waved, then went back to throwing bird seed.

"... GIOVANNI!" He jumped at the shout came though the phone, and in Silvers voice.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to yell into phones?"

"It's not like you to ignore people for minutes at a time. You usually either hang up or don't answer in the first place. I get it now though, you're getting soft." Silvers voice sounded almost... chiding. As if he were goading him.

Giovanni sighed. "Silver, if Sterling really is missing, we don't have time to throw insults at each other. I have an idea of what may have happened, but I can't be sure-"

"Screw sure, whatever you think could have happened, we'll check it out, now. I don't give a damn about how sure you are!" Silver had practically shouted the last part. He was seething into the phone. If there was any way that he knew what had happened, then they had to act now.

"Silver, your grandfather just died."

The words jolted him. "What?"

"Your grandfather, my father... just died. Charlotte was supposed to tell you, but all the planes into Almia were held up due to a storm. The funeral is tomorrow."

Silver was shocked, standing there, holding the phone. Keri frowned at him, concerned. She gently pulled the phone out of his hands and put it to her ear. "You know, I think you just broke him. Because he's stopped moving, or being upset, or being anything really. Yesterday, we found out our neighbor knew more about him than he did about himself. You should really tell your children about their families. Oh, and then we found out Sterling had been kidnapped, and now you've said something that seems to have put him in shock. So it had better be good, or I'm going to have to _kill you_."

He ground his teeth. "You should be careful what you threaten. I could just drop any protection and leave you to fend for yourself." he snarled.

"No you couldn't, you love Sterling too much. I'm not stupid, and your disguises aren't that good." She growled back.

For once he was speechless.

"Now tell me where you think my daughter is or I'll make Grant tell me where you are. And trust me, you won't like it." Her voice had gone down to a low hiss, and he wondered for a second if this really was Keri Fletcher, who had always been so calm and composed. Who had always been subtly threatening, but completely focused...

"In Almia, there is a prison. I was growing worried, and I was going to pay a visit up there in a couple days after the funeral. I have some very dangerous enemies there, but I didn't think they would act so quickly. I've been getting some odd reports for a few weeks, I'm pretty sure that they're fake. Something must have happened to let them escape. Anyone who wants revenge on me bad enough to track you down, and anyone who _could_ track you down, would be there. Almia Castle."

"So our daughter has been kidnapped by a bunch of criminals that you couldn't keep a tight enough leash on? That's pathetic! Why didn't you immediately check up on the prison when you thought things were going bad?" She snarled into the phone again.

"I have had more than enough insults from you, Keri Fletcher, and I would advise you to calm down. I am well aware of my mistakes regarding this issue. The prison wasn't as large of a concern to me when I began receiving the false reports. I was under the impression that those I had stationed in the region were more than capable of keeping things under control. Oh, and while your skills with your Pokemon are as exemplary as ever, you're beginning to get out of shape. You should remember that no matter what, you are always in danger. Weather you are part of this team or not, and that you cannot always rely on your Pokemon to protect you. Just because you've left Team Rocket doesn't mean it's left you." He frowned hard at the brick wall. He hadn't meant to leave for this long, but he figured that Charlotte could handle things inside without him.

Keri ground her teeth, unable to keep the "yes sir," from coming out of her mouth.

"Good. Now, since you are in contact with Grant and Viox Creed, and I'm assuming that you are also in contact with Dominic and Katrina Vice, you will tell them what has happened. You, Silver, Grant, Viox, and if they so choose, Dominic and Katrina, will go to Almia castle. Your first objective is to find the children. Grant will be in charge of your party, under no circumstances will you disobey him, is that understood?"

"...Yes sir." It took a few seconds for her to respond, and it sounded strained, but he let it go. This was no time to bother with petty formalities.

"Good. There are some very dangerous people there. If they have escaped, they _will_ know who Grant is, and most of them _will_ know who Silver is. _They will try to kill them_. If they don't, it's a trap. Get out. Some will know who you are, and very few should know anything about Viox. You two are the safest. If you have to somehow sneak in, you two will be the ones to do it. No argument."

"Yes sir." Still strained, but not as much as before.

"Good. Now Keri Fletcher, I have understanding that you are associated with a member of the Secret Police, who goes by the name of Jack Rain. If you see him, or are somehow contacted by him, you are to instate his help, and the help of his Pokemon. Your most immediate concern is to get the children away from Almia Castle Prison. If the children are not there, you are to contact me for further instruction. If you complete the mission, you are to contact me for further instruction."

The other end was silent. Giovanni cleared his throat. "I'm not saying it until you're done talking." She said.

He grimaced. If she weren't family... "Fine. Be careful Keri... Some of your comrades called you the Black Arrow, because you were deadly, fast, and always reached your objective. No matter the risk. I'm telling you now, take no risks, but live up to your name. You will take two days to pack supplies, and to train with your teammates. During this time, I will be flying over to observe this mission myself. All of you will meet me at twelve noon, at the Ranger Depot. Under no circumstances are you to leave before that time. Is that clear Admin Flethcer?"

It took him a second to realize what he had said... he frowned to himself. He'd given up on trying to turn her into an admin when she'd refused for the eighth time. Keri looked at the phone in her had for a second, as if her gaze could penetrate the space that separated them through the device. She placed the device against her ear again, and spoke. "Yes sir, I will complete the mission with the group you have assigned me, but I would like to remind you that I will not reinstate in Team Rocket. Especially as an Admin." She said the words calmly, but he could hear the poison laced through them.

He nodded, as if she could somehow see him. "I understand that Miss Fletcher. I apologize for that slip of the tongue. Please tell Mr. Giovanni what we have discussed, and begin packing supplies for your mission. Good bye Miss Fletcher."

"Good Bye _Sir_." Keri jabbed the off button on the phone so hard she hurt her thumb.

Silver had gotten over the initial shock of what his father had said after Keri had threatened him the second time. Instead watching as she had spoken with him, going from a stance of feral danger, to someone who was standing tall, and saying 'yes sir' every few moments. Her eyes had stayed the same though, dangerous and wild, flashing with fire. She was still staring at the phone this way. Silver frowned...

"I still respond the same," she growled. "It's been six years, and it's like I never left. I'd always assumed it was just a really important admin," she said. "But no... after that admin comment... I was always taking orders from him. No wonder everyone thought I was an Admin, no matter how many times I told them." She growled, staring at the phone. "I didn't even act any different." She stared at the device, Silver thought she looked like she wanted to throw it.

"You know, all I can think about right now is that time on the beach." He said, carefully taking the phone from her and hanging it up. If this one got broken they would have to go buy another.

Keri just stared at him for a second. "You're an idiot."

Silver shook his head. "No I'm not. I'm thinking that since you accepted a mission from Team Rocket, that maybe we could use a few of those uniforms."

Keri frowned at him. What was he thinking, he hated Team Rocket, and couldn't wait to get rid of his old uniform. He'd thrown it away, but only after she'd convinced him it was bad for the garbage disposal. "I don't follow." She said dryly.

He knew he should be upset, about Sterling, about his Grandfather, about how upset Keri was, but all he could think of, all he kept picturing, was her standing on that beach, the wet uniform clinging to her figure, the gun strapped to her waist... "Never mind..." he said, unconvincingly, still staring at her.

It took her another minute... "Really? I mean... _really_? We have a thousand things to worry about and you're thinking about _that_!"

He smirked. "Yes. I am. I think I may be in shock." He took a step towards her, smirk replaces by a slightly serious expression. His eyes were playful though.

Keri was somewhere between startled and angry. His look was odd, like a cat ready to pounce on a shoelace... "Silver, really, now is not the time." she glared at him.

The playfulness drained out of his eyes. "You're right... so what are your orders?"

She regarded him for a second. He was impossible to read right now, not even his eyes were giving anything away. She frowned... then took a deep breath. If she were playing Rocket again, then she would have to act like one... She thought about how he had been acting, almost childish... He was obviously in pain, she knew that much... She looked away, out the kitchen window. Silver took his chance, suddenly pinning her against the wall. He looked down into her eyes. "Keri? _I need you_."

She looked up at him, his eyes showed desperation, and suddenly she understood, even if he didn't. He needed her, he truly needed her. He needed the touch, the comfort, the contact. To feel her and know that she was still there, that she wasn't going to disappear in a seconds notice... She grabbed his shoulders, using them as leverage to kiss him. He leaned into her, pressing his body as close as he could while she wrapped her arms around him.

.~.~.~.~.~

Sterling glared out the cell door, small hands gripping the bars as tightly as they could. She growled under her breath. Emily, sitting on the bench in the back sighed. "Would you give it up Sterling? Wasting your energy isn't going to help at all."

Sterling let her hands fall limply to her sides. "Mommy and Daddy would know what to do." She shivered. It was freezing here, even though there was a small heater in the cell. "They would have gotten out and beaten up the bad guys already."

Emily just shook her head. "There are a lot of people here, I don't think they could have beat them _all_ up."

Sterling huffed. "Yes they could have. My mommy is smart, and Daddy is even smarter. They used to work for the bad guys too, so they know everything about them." She kicked the heater lightly. "I bet they would have blown this up, and gotten out with their Pokemon."

Ethan suddenly sat up, he hat been laying on the floor, throwing Peppers Pokeball up in the air and catching it over and over. "I can make that blow up."

Both girls looked at him, surprised. Emily frowned. "How? You can barely do your math problems."

"I can fix things. Alakazam teaches me. I can make them explode too, but Rotom taught me that. Alakazam doesn't know." He crouched next to the heater, examining it. "Do you really want me to make it explode?" He seemed excited at the thought.

Emily waked over and crouched by the heater with him. It didn't look like he could make it explode. It was sealed shut. "No, we don't want you to make it explode. If it explodes, and we can't get out, then we'll freeze to death."

Sterling grinned at this. "No we won't! Ethan has Pepper, and she's a fire type!" She danced around the cell, excited, then suddenly stopped. "But... we could get hurt, couldn't we? It's a bad idea." She suddenly looked so crestfallen Emily thought she would cry.

"It's okay, we'll think of something else."

Ethan looked worried about something for a second, then he looked around. "I think I can get the Pokemon to help." He said, quietly.

"How?" Emily asked.

He walked up to the bars, looking out carefully. Then he turned around. "I can hear them, the Pokemon, they talk to me, in my head. I can talk to them too, and call them. Slowking told me not to tell anyone, but you're my friends."

"What about your parents? Do they know?" Sterling asked, perking up a little. If Ethan could really talk to the Pokemon, then it would be easy to get out.

He shook his head, hesitating for a few seconds... "They're both... gone. They went on a trip, leaving me with the Pokemon for a week, but they never came back. Alakazam takes care of me now. Slowking talks to people on the phone, and Ditto pretends to be my Daddy when the other grown ups want to talk to him... Alakazam has to help him talk, but..." He frowned at the dirt. "Slowking says that I shouldn't give up, but Alakazam says that he doesn't think they're ever coming back." He began to cry, trying to wipe away the tears before they could run down his face.

Emily immediately hugged him, "I'm sure they're going to come back Ethan. Maybe they just got really lost, and they think about you every day. They've been sending messages in bottles every day, hoping that one shows up in the harbor, and gets to you. Maybe they got lost on an island, and made friends with all the Pokemon there, but they can't get home alone." She hugged him tighter. "Maybe they know not to worry too much because they know that Alakazam and Slowking are taking good care of you."

Ethan stopped crying. "Yeah... yeah, and they're sending bird Pokemon to find me. And when I see them I can get the rangers to help me find them. When I'm older, and people won't take me away from my Pokemon."

Sterling watched, keeping quiet. Ethan was all alone except for the Pokemon... "We're all going to be best friends." She said, "right now, promise. We'll always be friends. You have to swear on your heart, we'll always be best friends." She pressed the palm of her right hand over her heart. "Put your hands over your hearts."

Emily let go of Ethan, and he did it immediately, holding her gaze. Emily hesitated for a moment, then slowly placed her hand over her heart. Sterling nodded. "Now say: I promise that we will be best friends forever." All three said it at the same time.

A figure had appeared in front of the bars of the jail cell... "That's very touching... I think I might cry." He really did have a tear in his eye, the one they could see. The man was wearing thick clothing, all black except for a light blue tie. He looked at the three in the cell. He had told them to only grab Emily, but having Giovanni's granddaughter was a bonus. Sterling glared at him, keeping eye contact. It was unnerving for the man, that she seemed to be staring him down. He glanced away, looking at Emily. She looked back, unable to take her eyes away from the eye patch and scar that ran across his face.

The man sighed. "We should get you some food, you are our guests after all. I'll send someone up with some food for you, and I'll make sure you get proper beds in a couple days." He smiled, a tight smile, then turned to leave. As he walked away, Andrew Hess thought that his plan was turning out far better than what he had originally wanted.

XOX

I would have put this up yesterday, but I ran out of time to edit. For a minute there, Keri was ready to tear Giovanni to pieces, no matter what the consequences. Silver... honestly he's been through so much the past six years, and he's been holding back most of his emotions since he and Keri were separated. She's the only one he really feels comfortable around... (And yes, I will tell you what happened to Silver while he was in Team Rocket eventually.)

I've been planning that for Ethan ever since I wrote him, I'm glad I finally got to it.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to DarkPhoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

Keri finished explaining everything to the eight people seated around her living room. Dominic, Katrina, Grant, Madison, Nathan, Viox, and Mr. Briney were just staring at her. She began to feel uncomfortable. Silver frowned at them. The living room seemed cramped. Dominic finally spoke, although hesitantly. "Kat and I... we _do_ have a choice, right?"

Keri nodded. "Yes. You don't have to go if you don't want to."

Grant shook his head at her. "I can't believe you had the guts to turn down an Admin position that many times, even before you knew it was him."

"I'm not good at being in charge of people." She said flatly, glaring at him.

"Yes you are, he doesn't just randomly pick people to be Admins, especially if he asks them himself. Hell, you're better at missions than I am, I thought you just kept Rose status because it was easier to interact with the other members if you were." He shook his head at her. She really had been determined to get out. Team Rocket had taken a bad blow, loosing her. He would have to hunt down the idiot that killed her parents.

There was a knock at the door, and Keri was relieved to get away for a few seconds as she answered. Annie grinned at her from the other side of the threshold. "I made a cake!" She was holding out the plate it was on, the cake covered in chocolate frosting, and Keri wasn't sure how to react. She stepped back from the doorway. "Why don't you come in... Nathan is actually here, so you can see him too."

Annie seemed overjoyed by this, and walked inside, setting the cake on the table before going into the living room. "Wow. What's going on here?" She looked at everyone, surprised. Keri almost never had visitors, let alone this many...

"Annie, I'd like you to meet our friends. The two holding hands there on the couch are Dominic and Katrina Vice, former members of Team Rocket. Grunt and tracking work," then she pointed at Viox, "She's Viox Creed, also former Team Rocket. She would still be in, but got pregnant around the same time I did, and if I may quote you, having children somewhat ruins working for international organizations. The guy on the floor over there," she pointed at Grant, "is the head of Team Rocket information, and Giovanni's current predecessor." All four were staring at her in shock. Why would she...

"Giovanni must have his hands full with this! I wonder if Charlotte knows, she would have a field day, especially after what I learned about Jack Rain from Danny yesterday! There has to be something big going on..." she looked around at everyone, and they all seemed slightly shocked, except Keri and Silver. Suddenly she noticed something... "Shouldn't Sterling have gotten home from school by now?"

Silver frowned at her. "Mrs. Greer, that's why we're all here. My father assigned us a mission recently, even though most of us are no longer in Team Rocket. Or never were in the first place. Sterling has been kidnapped, along with Viox's child, Emily, and a boy that they're friends with, Ethan."

For a second Annie seemed stunned, then she took a deep breath and collected herself. "Well I think I'd better start cutting that cake."

.~.~.~.~.~

Michael shivered, staring up at the castle. This is where that Aerodactyl had dropped him off, and it had just flown away, leaving him stranded. He had run out of food in his pack, and was beginning to run out of options. On all sides there was freezing water with strong currents... that was certain death. He could try to get inside the castle, but it was guarded by people in black sweatsuits and dark blue coats. He'd walked around the entire building, and explored the woods behind it some. He jumped as he felt something touch him. He turned and shouted in shock, startling a Pokemon, with deep blue skin and a heavy looking shell. A large Lapras was hiding behind the same chunk of ice he was. They stared at each other for a few seconds, then it pushed him with it's head, making him slide out into the open just as a scout walked by.

The woman stared at him in shock for a second, then threw out a pokeball. "Get him!" A Ditto attacked him, wrapping it's body around him, and hardening into a strong coat. He couldn't move his arms. He scrambled to get up, but with the position he was in, it was impossible. The woman smiled, helping him get to his feet, but keeping a tight hold on him. "I don't know what you're doing sneaking around out here, but you're going to regret it."

Michael wished he were with Viox and Emily, listening to insults from Viox and playing tag with Emily. He wished that he could have seen her a week ago, and now he probably wouldn't ever see her again. Viox... it had started out with just looking for Keri, but after a while, they'd started focusing less on finding Keri and more... on each other. He stared up at the castle, he could tell that a long time ago it had been beautiful, but now it was worn down and adorned with spotlights... Maybe it would look better if he didn't know it were a prison. Michael sighed, looking back at the ground. Jack had taken him off on some crazy adventure, and now he would never get to see her again. He could move his hand just enough to get it into his pocket. Viox had been hurt badly, and shot insults at him as fast as they came to mind... but she was what he wanted more than anything. Michael gently wrapped his hand around the ring in his pocket.

.~.~.~.~.~

"Okay, as soon as I make this explode, the ghost Pokemon will make us disappear and we'll push out the bars the Raticate have chewed through. Remember to follow the Ghastly. By the stairs she told me about, there's a flying type. He's going to drop us off by a Lapras, and pick up his trainer... Make sure to get out fast, once this goes off that Abra's force field will block the hallway, but it's not very strong, and it's only going to last a couple minutes." Ethan looked between them, a little unsure of what he was about to do... Alakazam had told him that if he was going to blow things up, he should at least make it more useful... he wondered what Alakazam would think about this. The Abra had helped him rig the bomb so that it would expel weak force field, something that would be able to stop people and weak Pokemon from advancing for a couple minutes.

"Lets do it!" Sterling said excitedly... She was surprised that Ethan could contact Pokemon even outside of the castle. She'd watched him do it, and it had taken a long time, but he had done it! And he had gotten two Pokemon to help them, one even belonged to a trainer he said!

Emily nodded, and Ethan flicked the power switch on the heater, jumping back from it and covering his face with his arms, even though he'd run behind the bench that Sterling and Emily had laid on its side. There was a noise, not quite a boom, it was more of a crack, like a gunshot, but it was definitely an explosion. They jumped out from behind the table to see the demolished heater, and a wall of something not-quite-transparent extending across the hallway. It didn't look strong, at all... Emily grabbed the bars that the Raticate had chewed through and shoved them out, stepping out into the hallway. She looked around... then looked at herself. She couldn't see her feet. Someone bumped into her, and their images wavered into view for a second. It was Ethan. "Sorry... they say we have to hurry. They aren't strong enough to keep this up for long, especially without a Psychic Type. Just follow the Ghastly."

Sterling shivered. It was weird, she could hear them, but the Pokemon had turned them completely invisible... She kept right behind the Ghastly, but turned to see if the others were still invisible. She could see their shadows on the wall, but not them... Someone was coming! She pressed herself against the wall, watching as they passed, oblivious. She kept still, as they went a little ways down the hallway. Suddenly he stopped, stark still, then turned quickly, staring right at them.

She could hear Emily and Ethan's breathing. They were trying to make as little noise as possible, but Sterling knew better. The game was up, it was either run, or get caught. The guy wouldn't just overlook the shadows on the wall as his imagination. "RUN GUYS!"

She set off at a sprint down the hallway. She could hear them, Emily and Ethan silent, but breathing hard as they ran. The man who had spotted them was shouting. Suddenly the light wavered, and they were visible, she could see Ethan in front of her, hear Emily behind. The Ghastly was still leading them. Ethan glanced back at them, slid on a patch of ice, and suddenly found himself on the ground. "Keep running!" Sterling slowed a step, then followed his instructions, running twice as hard. Emily frowned... what would they do to him?

She paused, turning to look as the man grabbed Ethan by the arm. He struggled, biting the man. A couple Ratata clamped down on the his legs, and he let go, shouting. Ethan started running again, and stopped, staring horrified. Emily turned to see a Frosslass staring down at her. Ahead she could see Sterling, still running, then she turned a corner, the corner, and was gone... For a second she was angry, then she realized that if Sterling could get out and find someone, they still had a chance. She glared up at the Pokemon, channeling her frustration at it instead. It stared coolly down at her. It's ice blue gaze sent shivers down her spine. She let her body relax, turning to look at Ethan. "Ethe..."

A few more people appeared, the Frosslass glaring around coolly, as if threatening the others to challenge her. Like she was the one in charge. Ethan locked eyes with it. Emily watched, as they seemed to have a silent battle. Ethan frowned, and shut his eyes, concentrating harder... "It won't work kid, she's already bound." Both children jumped. Emily had been paying attention to Ethan, and he'd been concentrating too hard on the Pokemon to really see any of the people around them.

Andrew was watching, standing just behind the Frosslass. It was a pity, the other Pokemon were helping the redhead escape, and there wasn't much he could do to catch her at this point. She would probably freeze to death out there alone anyway, there weren't any fire types around that he could think of, except the ones in the castle, and he'd made sure to have those locked up tight. Ethan eyed him, then took a step back. "What do you mean?"

"She's mine, kid. Bound. You can't control her unless she lets you." He smirked. This kid couldn't be as dumb as he seemed. It took years to learn what he had, someone had to have taught him by now.

"Control?" Ethan was completely confused... He didn't like this man though. He couldn't place what he felt, it was like he knew this person, but when he'd seen them before, they'd been less... threatening. All he wanted was to get away from him. Maybe the other Pokemon could still help...

Andrew rolled his eyes. This... what was he? Six? Yeah, six. This six year old couldn't be serious. He'd just built a bomb, out of a space heater. He'd gotten the Pokemon in the castle to help him, and Andrew knew that Frosslass had threatened them all with death if they helped prisoners. "Like with the Raticate. What are you, stupid?"

Emily glared at him. "You're the stupid one! Ethan doesn't control anything!" She shouted it, balling up her fists and keeping her eyes locked on his. After a few seconds though, she looked away.

Andrew frowned, looking thoughtful. She looked like her, that was for sure... but her personality... "I'm sure you think you're a genius. Anyone could blow up a space heater, and anyone can learn to talk to Pokemon. You're just little kids, you can't really do anything."

She bristled, eyes lighting up with fury. "Yes. We. Can."

"Like what? Blow bubbles? I bet you can't even control one of the Ratata running around here." He watched her out of the corner of his eye, pretending to scout for one of the purple rats.

"Emily, he's doing it on purpose. You can see in his eyes, he wants you to get mad. Remember last time you got mad? You told me the teachers in Fiore wouldn't let you go back to school." He saw something in her at that moment... He dismissed it. When Emily got angry, she was scary. He turned to look at Andrew, "I asked the Pokemon for help. If you have to control them, it just means that you have no real power. That's what Slowking says."

Emily looked at him, taking a deep breath. She was still mad, but Ethan was right. When she got mad she hurt people. She didn't want to hurt anyone, and if she did anything, she would probably just get Ethan hurt instead. In Fiore it had been a group of kids her age, here it was all grown ups, and none of them would hesitate to hurt them. She had been prepared for this, it was why she carried around her backpack, in case she had to run, in case she was attacked... but she couldn't leave Ethan. Even though her mom had told her... she couldn't leave him behind.

It was Andrews turn to bristle with anger. This was a six year old _child_. What did he know about what was really powerful? What did he know about control? "You want to know about power? The only way to get things done is to order it. Make people fear you, _brat_, or you'll never get what you want. You have to take what you want when you can, or you'll never get it."

Ethan shook his head. "Alakazam says I'm powerful! And Slowking says that if I want something, I should work hard to get it! And Rotom says I should blow things up more, but I don't think that's the same..." He seemed to space out for a second.

Andrew sneered, disgusted. The kid had been brainwashed into thinking the world was flowers and candy and 'if you work hard...' Hard work had never gotten him anything. All it had ever done was give him a headache. "Take the kids to separate rooms, the ones that were being set up. Keep surveillance on them at all times. I'll be in to see them later. Make sure they're warm. For my plans they need to be _alive_."

He turned on his heel, walking down the hallway at a steady pace. The Frosslass following him. "_Andrew... the boy does not know_."

"_What!_"

"_The boy... he was given this. He did not have to learn how. He is not bound, __either._"

"_That's not possible, Claress. Even that idiot Jack is bound, and that ranger that you told me about! The man who told me how to do it, he'd stayed bound his whole life! He's been alive for hundreds of years! If I'd known what that Detective had done before, I would have beaten the secret out of him..._" he growled out loud. It had taken him four years of this place, four years of being ignored by everyone, four years of complete silence, four years of learning how to listen to things... things people said, how Pokemon communicated, how to hear the ghosts in the castle... then the months it took to and do the binding... he shuddered. It hadn't been easy to do, creating the chain... and after that, more waiting, for the right opportunity, getting people to listen to him...

"_This is not the same as binding. He can hear and speak to all Pokemon, at all times, except for the bound. He can hear and speak to us also, if we wish it. You can only hear what I can help you hear._" She glared at him. How dare he just brush off what she said. She was almost as old as this castle, she had lived longer than she would dare tell him, and planned on out living him. This was just temporary, it gave her the ability to control the people around here as well as the Pokemon. Andrew would live a short life, and then she would have complete control over her castle.

.~.~.~.~.~

The ring was smooth, perfectly round, and Michael knew it would fit her. He carefully slid the metal from his fingers and into the palm of his hand. Now he'd probably be dead before he even got to see her again. Michael knew Viox never meant anything bad she said to him... And she typically apologized later, in her own way... Almost more than Viox though, he missed Emily. She was so smart, so eager... Viox told him that she acted so grown up all the time, it was refreshing to see her play when he was there. He breathed out a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment... "Viox..." he muttered. He'd missed them both so much the past few months...

His guard glared at him. "No talking! I'm taking you straight to Hess, and he'll deal with you. His Pokemon has been getting bored lately. Now keep-"

Michaels eyes shot open as he heard his guard shout, and turning around, he could see a young girl with bright red hair sitting on the Lapras that had shoved him out onto the ice. He turned to look at the unconcious guard, who seemed to have been pelted in the head with a ball of ice. He turned back to the girl, who waved. "I'm Sterling! You're the trainer who had the flying type, right? It flew off without you, that's not right... We'd better get out of here before more of those people come though... Lapras has good aim, don't you think? I think he does! A lot of people think Lapras is just a Water type but it's really a Water _and_ Ice type! My Mommy taught me, and Daddy has been teaching me a lot about how Pokemon act and how you're supposed to train them, he even let me have a Pokemon, I got to catch her all by m-"

"What's your fathers name, Sterling?" He had walked over to the Lapras, and was trying to wrestle the Ditto off. It wasn't budging. He sighed, giving up, and sat on the pokemons shell. It slid into the water. The Ditto made a worried noise, as if it wasn't sure what to do. "You're going to get bored eventually," he muttered to the Pokemon. He kept his eyes on Sterling though, nervous. He knew what her answer was going to be, she looked far too much like him...

"His name is Silver. I have to get a Pokemon to take a message to him and mom, so they can come and save Emily and Ethan too!" She gripped one of the spikes on the pokemons shell... She turned back, looking at the castle... "Ethan told me to keep running... one of us had to get out..." She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, fighting back tears. She felt awful... but none of them had any Pokemon to battle with, and Ethan had said to keep running... Her mom had told her stories, some of them where the bad guys won, and the heroes didn't. When that happened, the bad guys always got away with killing the heroes... she shivered, hoping that Emily and Ethan wouldn't get killed...

Michael almost jumped in the water, wanting to immediately go back to the castle. His guard had mentioned a name... he shut his eyes for a moment, thinking... Hess. His eyes shot open, and he stared at the castle. Andrew Hess... He shuddered. That wasn't possible. Hess couldn't have taken over the prison... no. Michael shook his head. He would contact any one he could as soon as possible. If Andrew had escaped, that meant he wanted revenge. Proof of this was sitting in front of him. "Sterling, we're going to get them out, I promise."

Sterling turned around, looking him in the eyes. She'd never met this person before, she didn't even know his name, but from the look in his eyes... she trusted him. Emily and Ethan would be safe, that's what he was saying. Sterling nodded, then focused on the water in front of her, sliding her hand into the pocket of the grimy jackets they'd been given. She blinked as something brushed her fingers, then frowned and pulled out a slightly beaten Pokeball. She gripped it and stuffed it back in her pocket, knowing it contained the Growlithe that Ethan had brought with him. Growlithe, a fire type. In this weather, fire could be the difference between life and death.

Ethan had known things wouldn't go according to plan, and had somehow managed to give her the Pokemon without her noticing. He hadn't told Emily, hadn't told her. She stared over the fast moving waves, wondering how powerful the Lapras she was riding actually was. It seemed docile enough, swimming calmly, not worried in the slightest about the fast moving currents. She curled up against the Pokemon's neck, and shut her eyes, hiding her face from the man behind her, so he couldn't see her cry.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver leaned against the wall, carefully peeling the tape off his hands. "Come on Keri. You're going to make yourself sick, and that's the last thing you need right now."

She continued doing pull ups. "No. I need. To keep up. Giovanni is. Right. I've been getting. Out of. Shape. I only. Have two. Days. I need. To make sure. I can keep. Up like. I used to."

"Missing out on sleep isn't going to make you stronger. Besides, the guy who bought this place is going to be here in an hour. We need to clean up and clear out." He frowned at her. She'd barely taken a single break since they'd started. Running, push ups, pull ups, crunches, gymnastics, she'd been through everything at least three times already. She'd insisted on staying even after Viox had left. It was one in the morning, they'd been there most of the day and all night, and she still wasn't showing any signs of slowing down.

"I can keep. Going. Go home and. Sleep. I'll be there. In a few. Hours." She shot a quick glare at him.

He took a deep breath, and rubbed his forehead. "Keri, either get down from the bar, now, or I'm going to break the damn thing in two."

She dropped down, eyes flashing in anger. "Was that a threat?"

"You're going to end up hurting yourself, if you haven't already." He growled at her.

"I've done it before." She snarled. He was not going to tell her what to do.

"At least six years ago!" he automatically moved into a defensive position. "I used to spend days training! I wouldn't sleep, I'd hardly eat. What are you trying to prove Keri?" He carefully searched her face, she didn't seem to be listening. "That you can train until you drop? That you wouldn't stop at broken bones? I used to do that! It never worked! I would train my Pokemon until they were completely exhausted, and I would train myself, until none of us could move! Sometimes I pushed past even that! All it ever ended in was pain and exhaustion!"

"I'm fine Silver!" She growled. "I need to work harder, I have to! Going here two nights a week wasn't enough, I should have done it more often, stayed longer! Annie would have watched Sterling-!" Her voice broke and she stopped, grinding her teeth together.

She stood at a half crouch, Silver could see her legs shaking slightly. "Keri, please listen to me." He met her eyes, trying to convey his message through just his look... "Please just stop. You _are_ going to hurt yourself." He took a deep breath, relaxing and clearing his head. "Keri, working yourself to death is not going to help any of us."

She ground her teeth... "I'm not working myself to death. I'm fine."

He pulled his shirt off, over his head. "Prove it." He met her eyes again, this time a pure challenge.

She blinked, "what?"

"If you're fine, prove it. I'd guess that normally we're a pretty equal match. So prove it. Prove to me that your body is still keeping up, and I'll stop trying to get you to stop training." He was re-wrapping his hands. And hoping she wouldn't take him seriously. "Whatever challenge you want."

Keri looked surprised for a moment, then frowned. Her eyes flashed, dangerously. "Fine..." She walked over to the wall, grabbing a paper cup from the water cooler and filling it. She glanced at him, then reached up, and flicked a light switch. The entire gym went black. "Catch me."

She knew her body wasn't keeping up... she needed sleep. She didn't want it. Every time she wasn't focused, her thoughts went back to Sterling. Was that her price? Since Silver had come back, Sterling had to be taken? Even if it wasn't Team Rocket, was that the exchange? She carefully balanced on top of one of the weight machines, listening... what if they got there, and it hadn't been them? Or what if Sterling... what if...

"You're breathing too loud."

Keri immediately slowed her breathing, shaking her thoughts away. Had to concentrate... "You haven't moved." She could her it, the distance, where he was facing, he was in almost the exact same spot.

Silver took a slow breath, and began taking careful steps towards her. Silence... He felt the air move as she did... He sighed and opened his eyes, watched her carefully. Watching as she observed surroundings he knew she couldn't see. "How many times have you been in here?"

"I come about twice a week, I've probably been here a few hundred times. The last owner let me have a key..." She paused... "No more talking." Despite herself, she smiled... She shut her eyes for a minute, picturing the gym... The rope. Once she got to the ceiling, he wouldn't be able to catch her at all...

She carefully stepped out of her shoes, walking across the floor... she could sense him to her right, walking in step. "Ker-" She heard him curse suddenly. He'd smacked into a piece of equipment. She took her chance and stepped onto the gymnastics mat. Her footfalls were silent as she walked across it... her eyes were starting to get used to the dark some... She could see his outline, he was crouched, rubbing his leg. Silver sighed, "Keri, I can see in the dark."

"What! Then why did you run into the treadmill?" It should be the treadmill... they hadn't moved any equipment, it had to be the treadmill.

"I was watching you... Some things... happened. To me. I would have told you sooner, but I haven't exactly had the time." He frowned, watching her, worried about her reaction. To be more honest, he'd just been putting it off, but that was more of an issue that he'd been so excited about finally being with Keri, he'd just let it slip from his mind. Or maybe forced it to.

Keri was surprised, she could see his outline, but no more than that... She glanced out the window, the sky was barely lightening. "You can see everything?"

"You're on the mat, on your toes. You were heading towards the rope in the corner," he was walking towards her while talking. "You're watching me, a second ago you glanced out the window. Right after you turned out the lights, you climbed up one of the machines. There's a Ratata in the corner by the water cooler near the barbells..." He reached a hand up towards her... "You have a hair out of place." He smirked, and brushed it away.

Keri frowned at him, she could barely see his eyes gleam silver in the darkness... "How did you get away... If they knew about _this_..." She kept her eyes on his, drinking in their every detail, how the thin lines of color made up their detail, how, despite the darkness, the pupils weren't as large as they should have been... Team Rocket would never have let him go if they knew he could do something like this... She wasn't entirely sure Team Rocket wouldn't take him back. Just a few short days, and he could be gone again... And what if they wanted Sterling too someday? She bit the inside of her lip, trying to force teas back. She worried constantly about that, what if they took her? And there was nothing she could do? What if they kidnapped her and used her as leverage... what if she was already... She clamped down harder, tasting blood in her mouth. She would _not_ think about that.

"They didn't know." He muttered, searching her face. His fingers were still resting on her cheek, and for a second he relaxed... he had been worried for nothing. She could see worry in her eyes, but not for the reason he'd originally expected. It was Team Rocket again, worried about them taking him back, worried about Sterling and afraid for her... just like he was. He cupped her face, and slid his hand down her neck and back, wrapping his arms around her. "I promise, Keri, that we'll find her, and bring her home." He felt her relax, resting her head against his shoulder.

Keri felt Silver stiffen, and suddenly he whipped around, letting go of Keri, as the lights flicked on. Giovanni leaned against the wall. "I never should have let you train that little freak. I knew she would be trouble. So you can see in the dark... well, at least it's useful."

Silver growled at him, "she was fine until you screwed her up." He wondered exactly how long he had been standing there...

Giovanni frowned, "you may have a point there. She's gone missing, again, by the way."

Keri blinked, letting her eyes get used to the sudden light, then glared at Giovanni, "It's great that you're here early," she said, her voice acidic, "but who the hell are you talking about?"

Silver turned to her, blatantly turning his back on Giovanni. "Someone I trained. That's what they had me do for the first year, training duty. Annoying as hell, you have no idea..." he murmured, "the one we're talking about, she was the third person they sent to me. The only one I enjoyed training, actually. Still couldn't keep her out of trouble though. Basically, she pissed off the wrong people, then managed to drag me into the mess too."

Giovanni glared at them. "Please turn around... and you volunteered for that mess if I'm not mistaken. Last I heard, she was still calling you her brother."

Silver pressed the palm of his hand against his forehead... "Are you serious? I'm not her brother... I've told her a hundred times..." he sighed. "Okay, it can't be helped... why are you early?"

"I decided to check out the building I purchased and see if it was fit for training. I'm guessing I need to change the locks. I don't know how the hell Keri managed to stay hidden, everyone here knows everything about her... Barring anything about the Rockets... and the old lady living next door now knows about that now too." He walked over, glancing at Keri's bare feet. "Thomas said he'd given you a key, I didn't figure you'd be here at two in the morning... I suppose I should stop buying buildings. I keep finding unpleasant surprises in them."

"Most of those unpleasant surprises are your own fault," Keri said, keeping a steady glare. "And you wouldn't be here so early if you weren't dragging someone along. Since you bought a gym, one for people rather than Pokemon, I'm guessing that it has to do with our... problems."

Giovanni nodded. "A few people who've managed to train themselves almost as good as you, Silver, and Grant. Elites. _Almost_ as good as you are. They train twice as hard with half the results, but they're still better, more focused, than anyone else. Once you've found Sterling and the other children, I was going to send them in to clean up the mess."

"Your mess," Silver said bluntly. "We'll clear out... If you would be kind enough to keep your presence here quiet? I like this city. No one knows me here, and I'd like to keep as low a profile as I can."

"Only if you keep your mouth shut. Oh, and Keri?" Giovanni turned to her, frowning. "You should know better than this. You remember your training, I know you do, we've based half the program off of your own system. You trained plenty of people yourself. If I hear you've beaten yourself up this badly again, and I don't care what Silver threatens to do to me, I _will_ put you through training again."

Giovanni backed up a step, and watched as they walked towards the door. Keri paused by the water cooler and grabbed her shoes. Silver glared at Giovanni, then flicked the light switch on his way out, covering the room in darkness. He stood there, replaying the image in his mind again. Yes... Silver loved her, he could see that, far more clearly than he ever could before. He glanced around in the darkness... he would not rip them apart again. It had been jealousy, pure and simple, he knew, that had prompted him to do what he had done six years ago.

XOX

Binding is a very interesting thing, and something that you will all get to learn a lot more about later. After I've smoothed out some details. I wasn't originally going to include very much on it, but I changed my mind. Mostly because I want to do more with it. Heh. I went to edit this one, and ended up adding about two pages.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Jack crouched on the top of the building, making faces at the poor rangers below. "Look, why don't you just go do whatever you normally do eh? I'm waiting for someone."

The ranger who seemed to be in charge at this point took a step forward, glaring at him. "Couldn't you wait on the street like a normal human being?"

"I could... but I'm not a normal human being. I'm not normal anything, really." He grinned down at them. "As soon as Grant gets here I'll be out of your hair... If you see him, tell him I found his brother, would you?"

The one in charge sighed, running his fingers through his hair and glaring up at Jack. "Fine. Tina, Roy, would you two go search the city for Grant? I'll stay here with the guy who likes to climb buildings."

The two rangers ran off, and Jack leaned over, looking at the third. "Who said I climbed? Hannah dropped me off here... I'm not entirely sure where she went, but it seemed important."

The ranger looked at him in confusion for a moment, then realization dawned on his face. "You're a trainer! Capturing pokemon-"

Jack interrupted, "I know it's illegal to outright capture a Pokemon here. That's why Team Rocket wanted this place, it's full of rare Pokemon, and they just wander around without fear. I brought all of my Pokemon with me, although they are all a bit rare. They seem to fit in here. Think about it, you'll recognize me."

The ranger leaned against the sign that showed a map of the city, thinking. After a few minutes he glanced up at Jack again. "You're that crazy guy who moved into Shiver Camp when the research team had to abandon it, aren't you? You look pretty clean for having lived out there."

Jack grinned. "Bingo! And guess what? In a few days, you're going to need all the help you can get out there, in fact-"

"Jack Rain! What the hell are you doing in Almia, let alone the fact that you're on top of the Ranger Depot?" Grant growled, glaring at the man. He'd been a pain ever since he'd first seen him, and now he wanted to pretend to be all friendly?

"I'm on top of this building because it looks like a tree and was a great spot to wait for you at your new job. I'm in Almia because your brother needs my help, and there's a whole bunch of other stuff going on that I'm not entirely informed on, so I can't really say anything because it would just be frustrating." Jack jumped down from the building.

"Everything you say is frustrating. You're here. It's obviously something to do with the I.P. Or you'd be content with hunting down people in Johto." He glaced at the other ranger. "David, you had better go on patrol..."

The boy folded his arms, "no way in hell. I.P. That stands for International Police. Which is my business Jack Rain, you're one of the top guys. We've been trying to find you for days now, Charlotte has someone she wants you to babysit."

Jacks eyebrows rose, and he frowned, "Does everyone in this place have some sort of secret identity? Sure we're allied with the Ranger Union, but this seems a bit much. Rockets, Police, Rangers, crazy prison people out for revenge, and all of them pretending to be one another... This place has it all doesn't it? They could get a camera crew to just walk around for a day and there would be all sorts of things to film. They could call it the drama channel. All they would have to do is pick a different Ranger to shadow for a week."

Grant looked somewhat alarmed... "That is the stupidest idea I've ever heard! Why don't we just announce to the world what we're doing. I'm positive it would make things so much easier. We'd just have to fend off a bunch of trainers and rangers and whatever else they thought to throw at us."

David turned to Grant, "How exactly do you know Jack?" He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Grant rolled his eyes. There was no point in ever trying now... he sighed "I'm part of Team Rocket. Jack was ordered to capture me, but since I haven't been doing anything, it's not exactly priority. You'd think I'd be up to something far more important than babysitting some little kid, but it turns out that I can't even do _that_ right. So I suppose it's right that I'm out here. And now I don't even get to go visit my wife, who is _pregnant_ by the way... oh, and you know what's even better than that? I hate snow, and it snows in this stupid place every year! And if that weren't enough, now I'm going to end up in the coldest part of this region, stuck with people I had to hunt down for three months! And _one of them shot me_!"

"Grant, that is more than enough. I expect better from you than pathetic whining, and if Keri had wanted to hurt you with that bullet, she would have. There is a reason I'm sending you on this mission, and my granddaughter is the highest priority that exists. As for the state of Jennifer's health, this mission should take less than three months. David, get out of here before I personally shoot you. I'm not in the mood to explain to Charlotte what happened if I have to. And I'm positive that your unit leader doesn't want to do the paperwork. Why the International Police just makes extra files for us to steal on their members, I'll never understand."

The ranger glared at the man who had just come out of Vien Forest. "How about... no? And it's so that we can keep track of all those lovely holes you keep putting in us."

Grant stood straight, feeling odd wearing a Ranger Uniform in front of his boss... Giovanni looked angry, and Grant felt like he had a reason to be. Giovanni glared at the ranger, a look that sent shivers up even Grants spine. He'd been on the other end of looks like that. "You sound like a child. You have no idea why I'm here, but you would insist on trying to listen in anyway? Charlotte placed you in the ranger union for a reason, I wasn't under the impression that it was because you were incompetent and unable to understand when you're outmatched." He threw a pokeball, "Take him out."

Before he knew what hit him, David had been thrown through the air, smacked into a wall, and had fallen unconscious. Jack raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were going to shoot him."

Giovanni glared at him, resting a hand on his Rhyhorn. "I changed my mind. He should still be alive, although he's probably not going to be working for a while. Jack, for once in my life, I'm glad you exist. Though it doesn't make you any less of an annoyance."

Jack shrugged. "Most of the world seems to feel the same... So when is everyone else getting here? I got Charlotte's message and got out here as fast as I could." He turned to Grant, "I made contact with your brother, Grant. I'll tell you more later though, since now isn't really the time."

Grant made a face. He was not looking forward to this. Giovanni frowned, "Keri and Silver will probably be late, they were still at the gym when I arrived. I doubt Dominic and Katrina will be here at all, and Viox has been watching from the top of that wall I flung David into for the last seven minutes."

Viox jumped down, glaring at all of them. "I'm glad I kept this uniform."

Giovanni examined her. "Wearing that thing around here is likely to get you killed, and it's a little outdated, but it will have to do."

Viox's mouth twitched, and she said, "The new uniform is nice, but it's not really my style. You can have whoever put it in my house go and get it." She took a position next to Grant and stood at attention. Jack was leaning against the sign, looking slightly concerned.

Giovanni frowned at the group gathered before him. One member who was out of practice, an Elite who was acting like a whiny brat, and an enemy all of Team Rocket seemed to have dubbed 'the crazy Dragonite guy.' And soon they were all going to be joined by two people who wouldn't listen to him unless threatened with death. "This is almost as bad as when I started out."

Grant looked at him with interest, Giovanni glanced at him, "What, did you think I just randomly started out like this? Don't be ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous is the fact you bothered to send us uniforms." Dominic walked around the Ranger Depot, holding out the clothes. "We aren't coming." Katrina followed, looking at everyone gathered. She was surprised that there weren't any rangers here yet... except for one that looked dead... she bit her lip and went back to looking around at everyone else.

Giovanni nodded. "I expected as much. You may as well stay to wish your friends luck."

Viox glared at him, and Giovanni returned the look. "I gave them the choice, Viox. I believe that Katrinas condition, and Dominics lack of... ability, would most likely hold you back, if I forced them into it." Giovanni ignored the glares coming from Dominic and Kat, and instead turned to the Ranger Depot.

Silver dropped down from the roof of the ranger building, his Crobat perched on his outstretched arm. Keri silently melted out of the woods, her Scyther stepping directly behind her, she stayed just in the shadow of the trees, making sure that she was out of Giovani's line of sight. Silver smirked, "I'll wear black, but there's no way in hell you're getting me in one of those uniforms again."

Giovanni's mouth twitched, and a sharp glare was aimed at his son. He hadn't expected him to wear the uniform, but he had expected him to return it. It was made to fit, and the thing hadn't been cheap. "I suppose it will have to do. Where is it?"

Silver smirked, "Oh I'm keeping it. I'm just not giving you the satisfaction of seeing me in it."

Giovanni raised an eyebrow, a slightly amused expression on his face, "then why bother keeping it?" He was now genuinely intrigued.

Viox was watching Keri, who immediately turned a nice shade of pink, then quickly recovered. Viox wrinkled up her nose. "Ew."

Everyone glanced at her, slightly alarmed, Silver especially. Keri took the opportunity to quietly sneak up behind Giovanni, who had a slightly disgusted look on his face. She fought embarrassment, her emotions were becoming increasingly harder to control, stood on her toes and hissed, "watch your back."

Giovanni whipped around, throwing out a Pokeball, and yelling out a command. Keri and her Scyther danced a few feet back, avoiding the attack and causing the Rhyhorn to slam into a tree, breaking it in two like a toothpick. She glared at him, eyes determined and dangerous. Her crouch was almost cat like, like she was ready to spring in a split second. Giovanni relaxed slightly, and called back his Pokemon before it could attack again. "That was flawless, don't ever do something like it again." He said, and he thought silently, '_or I will kill you_.'

She kept her gaze steady, "I am not out of practice." He voice came out in a low growl, "Actually, I've never been in a better form." She stood, the same look, but much colder. "And I will not take orders from you again."

Giovanni smirked, then turned around to look at Silver... Then glanced back at Keri... "I believe Keri has made her position very clear... Although she has had the courtesy to wear the uniform, you will notice some differences. I have considered it, and Keri will be in charge of this mission for as long as I see fit."

Keri walked around him, standing next to Silver. "The only reason I got away with that was because you were distracted," she said curtly, "and I don't appreciate the status change. I said no. I believe I said it around fifteen times, and that's just from what I can remember. The new uniforms are nice though, did Amy design them? She was always complaining about how impractical and ugly the others were... actually, most of us were." She looked down to admire the material.

Giovanni frowned at her sudden mood change. "Yes, Amy Devox designed them. She'll be pleased to know that you remember her, and that you like the uniform. I had that one made by her personally. To show both your previous and current status."

The colors were all the same, but instead of the uniform resembling badly tailored pajamas, it took on the appearance of an actual outfit. The pants were black, but more form fitting instead of acting like a pair of sweatpants, the shirt was a little more complicated, but simple in it's own right. It was the same color as the pants, but split in the middle from the bottom of the shirt to a spot just under her chest, to reveal a red tank top. On her left shoulder was a silver pin, in the shape of an R with a fully blossomed rose underneath it.

"I didn't want to offend her, that's why I'm wearing it. The enhanced fireproof and waterproofing qualities are nice too... I'm glad that Amy remembered I won't wear those stupid skirts, whoever thought of that in the first place was a complete nut job. Absolutely no protection..."

"Uh... Keri? Not that I'm objecting to you calling him a nut job, but..." Silver was pointing straight at Giovanni. He was finding this somewhat amusing, and somewhat disturbing at the same time. Team Rocket fashion wasn't exactly something he'd ever considered. Or even thought anyone would care about. Sure he got the status symbol thing, but why bother with the uniforms when you had better things to do, like hunt down rare Pokemon or set buildings on fire and rob helpless people? He reexamined his thought, and realized that he'd prefer someone obsessing over what they were wearing.

Giovanni shrugged. "Enough about the clothes. Your pin has a tracking system in it, when you put it on, you should have noticed the small buttons on the side of the rose," he paused, pulling something out of his pocket. "Each one of you will receive a pin," he held out a handful of silver pins, each one in the shape of an R. He handed the first one to Grant, whose had the only difference besides Keri's. It was gold instead, set on top of a silver triangle. The rest were plain silver R's, with three tiny buttons on the sides in red, black, and silver. He handed them to Silver, Jack, and Grant. "I want you to remember this carefully. The black button will set off a signal that communicates with the other pins. If at any time you are separated, pressing that button will set off all of the pins. They will emit a signal that will get louder the closer you get to one another. Once the pins are within three feet of each other, the signal will stop." He looked around, making sure everyone was listening. "The silver button is a distress call, it causes all of the pins to emit a series of seven beeps, no matter how close or far from one another you are. If one or two of you go off alone, and run into something you can't handle, press the button. That is an order. Pride will only get you killed on this mission, is that understood? Don't fight alone, don't go off alone."

Each one of them nodded or mumbled their acknowledgment, then Giovanni continued, "it shouldn't have to be used, but the red button is in case of a dire situation. Pressing completely disables your pin. It will not emit a signal, it will not beep, the other two buttons on it will not work. Unless you have been captured, or are going to die, do _not_ touch that button." He pulled something else out of his pocket, a small tablet about four inches tall and four inches wide. "This alerts me to your status, and can be used to track a pin. If a single pins signal dies, I will automatically assume the worst." Giovanni looked each one of them in the eyes, making sure this got across. If your pin died, you were dead. Then he turned around and began walking back to the forest. Looking over his shoulder he said, "you are dismissed, I expect you to begin heading to Almia Castle Prison before the end of the day."

.~.~.~.~.~

Emily woke with a start, staring around the room. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep, and she pulled the blanket against herself tighter, curled on the bed. When that man had told his guards to take them to the rooms, she hadn't expected this. There was a huge fire going in a fire place, and old rugs covered the floor. There was a window, but she didn't look out of it, because right outside was a huge drop, right into freezing water filled with chunks of ice. She'd made the mistake of looking out it once in hopes of an easy escape. There was a dresser, drawers filled with old clothes that fell apart at a touch, a couple mirrors... She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. There was even a book case, and old dead flowers in vases all over the room. Like it hadn't been touched in hundreds of years, except now, for the bed to be made up for her. She shuddered. It was creepy enough, being in the castle, but now she wondered who this room had belonged to... would they have welcomed a visitor? Had they been royalty? Or merely a guest in the old castle?

She slid out of the bed, bare feet touching the cold carpet. She flinched at the sting of the cold, then took a deep breath and walked over to the bookcase. None of the spines were marked with words, like they were at the library in school. Instead they had stamped symbols, or nothing at all. She reached up and carefully pulled down a book from the second shelf. She gently opened it, and winced as the binding cracked and fell apart, pieces of pages and the old leather of the book fell off, leaving old brown pages that crumbled under her touch. She frowned and gently set the book down on the floor next to the shelves.

She began to turn away when something on the first shelf caught her eye. A small book, bound in black leather, with a bright red symbol in the shape of an oval on the spine. She paused, then turned and gently pulled the book off the shelf. Stamped on the front there was an image of a short chain, consisting of five links. The book was in far better condition than the previous one, and the leather only creaked slightly when she opened it. She flipped the pages, stopping in the middle,** "is the last day. I will have completed the ritual, then the fools will not be able to touch me. I will be immortal by the power they most trusted. Tristen, if you could see me now, if you ever read this, dear boy, know that I did this for you. Tristen, my son, you were murdered by those fools, murdered for your capabilities, but I know, I know you can see me now boy, you can see the ink on this page. As I live, so shall this record..."**

Emily frowned and skipped ahead a little bit, finding a place where the writing seemed to start anew. **"Tonight is the Full Moon of the Ninth Cycle, and they are coming Tristen, and they shall witness my new power! They called me a fool, son, ****for living out here... but they did not know that I was truly preparing the ritual! When the woman comes to clean, you know what I do, boy? I cover the smell with wildflowers that the flying Pokemon bring me! They had no idea, no way of telling, no, they couldn't know Tristen. This is just between me and you, just between us. I can feel my Pokemon returning... me, my Pokemon. I am the first to truly own such a creature! Not befriend, or just turn to captivity, but truly own through both my heart and soul! She is a majestic creature, Tristen, a Pokemon that few have ever seen before! I have decided to call her Anna, after your own dear mother, may her rest be in peace. I have done this all for you boy, all for you! Tristen, there are so many things I wish to teach you, I have written everything down, everything is..."**

Emily shuddered and set the book down on a desk. Whoever had written that... he must have been crazy... She turned back to the bookcase, and noticed several books that had the same marking on the spine. All of them bound in leather, but she frowned as she noticed something; some of them seemed new. She began pulling every one with the same mark off the shelf, collecting them into piles. She pulled a chair from the desk and stood on it, reaching the ones up high, and climbing on the desk to reach the ones sitting on the top shelf. When she was done, she noticed that she had stripped more than half the entire bookcase. She grabbed the one that she had pulled last, off the top shelf, and flipped to the middle like she had with the last one. **"am a ghost to this place, Tristen. The only one who see's me is a man, he has learned to listen in this place. Ever since they began changing this castle, my power has been slowly dying, Tristen. Almia castle is not the same as it was two hundred years ago, boy. Without you to share it with, this power has become far more of a burden, I have told you this a thousand times, Tristen, yet you do not come... But this man, boy, this man is just like me. His grief is great, none speak to him. He has told me of the mutterings he hears, of the power of Pokemon, of a man he peruses, who stole what was rightfully his! And a woman too, he tells about a woman who betrayed him, Tristen! I am all but invisible, yet he sees me. The truth Tristen, he knows the truth, as I did and do! His wish is revenge, as is mine. We shall work together Tristen. All of us, and we shall persevere against those that stand in our way. It is only right, boy. It is only right..."**

Emily frowned and skipped ahead a few pages, like she had with the last journal, the back of her neck prickling. The writing stopped before the book was finished, this was the last entry the man had written. She frowned, and flipped to where the date started, it had been marked just a few months before. **"I have been tricked Tristen. I am dying. For the first time ever, I am truly dying. Tristen, please... please know that I am coming. I am sorry, I couldn't change what happened, I couldn't stomp out the murderers completely. I couldn't stop them Tristen. I do not have time to make another chain... I did not foresee this. He spoke of betrayal with the utmost hatred in his heart, Tristen, yet... He is a hypocrite, my boy. A hypocrite. He lashes out against betrayal with his tongue, yet with his hands he has killed my beloved ****Anna. My beloved Anna, Tristen. I have told you of her a thousand times. How she is faster than the wind and stronger than the earth... yet still she fell when faced against him. Speaking of a hatred for her kind, he pulled out a sword, an ancient thing that has been preserved by the time of this place, and struck her down, Tristen. My dear Anna... My dear Tristen... I shall join you soon. Know that I love you both."**

After what seemed like a long time, Emily shut the book. She felt as if she were intruding on something that had been meant only for the boy that had been written to. She had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach though. She looked at all of the books, then looked around the room. After a minute, she spotted her backpack. They had left almost everything in it, even her pocket knife. She grabbed the bag dumped it out, then put the book she was holding inside. She grabbed the one she had read before from the bottom of a pile, knocking it over, and put it inside too. She looked over them... she figured could only carry about twenty of them... She picked the books up at random, shoving them into her backpack, counting as she went. She stared at the pile of books left. She felt as if she'd barely taken any of them at all.

Emily grabbed one, opened to the first page, and began reading.

.~.~.~.~.~

In her dreams, she wandered down a hall, and the hall was filled with bookcases, and the bookcases were filled with books. All of them journals. Every time she paused and opened one, she would see her name repeated, over and over, like a call for help... she shoved another book back onto the shelf, and turned around. Looking down the hall, she could see someone. Emily stepped closer, and they became clear. Her voice was distorted for a second as she tried to speak, then it became clear... "Ethan!"

He smiled. "Emily, you're dreaming."

She looked at him, confused, then realization dawned on her face... it was all a dream. She frowned. She had been so happy to see him... "So... when I wake up-"

Ethan shook his head. "No Emily, the Abra is helping me. We're both sleeping. Abra is using it's power so that we can speak together. Neat huh? We should be able to remember it when we wake up too, cause Abra is helping."

Ethan grinned at her, and she couldn't help grinning back. "That's awesome Ethe! How did you learn to do it?"

He looked thoughtful for a minute... "Alakazam told me it was possible... but we never tried it. He says Pokemon dreams and human dreams don't work the same, so I couldn't try it out at home. The Abra that is helping us though is really smart, she suggested it when she found out we were in different rooms. I'm glad we can at least talk..." He looked around at all of the bookshelves... "Emily, what are all of these books? They all look the same."

She frowned, looking at them with a somewhat disturbed expression. "I found some just like them in my room. More than a hundred, I think. There are probably even more in other parts of the castle. What I read from them was weird... like the guy who had written them was over two hundred years old. He kept writing to his son, even though he wrote that his son was dead. He kept repeating things about finding people and getting them back for killing his son... It's creepy Ethan. I must have fallen asleep while reading them. I got all the way through one, but I couldn't keep my eyes open once I started reading again. I didn't understand a lot of it..." She reached up and gently pulled one of the books down, flipping to the middle... there was her name, written the same, over and over. Still.

"Can I see?" Ethan looked over the book... "It doesn't say anything... when I wake up I'll see if there are any in my room. They all look the same, right? Like the books here right now?"

Emily nodded, and put the book away. "Hey Ethe... this is still a dream right? But we're awake in it... They say that if you have a dream, but are awake in it, you can do anything you want in it!" She smiled, excited.

Ethan's eyes grew a little wider, then his face broke into a grin. He grabbed her hand, and started running down the hallway. "Then as soon as we get to the end of this hallway, we'll be in a forest! Full of awsome Pokemon!"

Emily jumped, running next to him. "Yeah! And we can be jungle people! I bet I can climb trees faster than you!" She laughed, letting go of Ethan's hand and running ahead of him.

Ethan realized that he'd never seen her act so happy and carefree before. He hadn't known her long, but he was excited... Emily wasn't being serious, she was just having fun! "Hey! Wait up!"

XOX

So... little more on what Ethan can do there. I was originally going to do something different with this part, but sometimes things just write themselves. Actually, I'm glad I decided to go the direction of the dream thing, because it will make things easier later. I think this is the first time a chapter has been written where Sterling isn't directly involved in some way. Weird. Actually, I cut the part with Sterling off and made it part of the next chapter because I like where I ended this one. Heh. And I like keeping my chapters under fifteen pages.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Sterling frowned, deep concentration in her eyes. "Use Ember again Pepper. Bonsly, Copycat, then Rock Throw."

Michael watched as the Growlithe used Ember, then immediately afterwords, the Bonsly did the same. She was having them attack a tree like Pokemon that had attempted to sneak up on them while they were walking. Michael wasn't sure what it was, and neither was Sterling, but she could tell it was a Grass and Ice type. The Ditto had finally decided to let him go, and was hiding inside of his backpack instead. The Pokemon finally ran away, unable to take any more of the attacks. "Good job guys... now come back." She returned the two Pokemon to their Pokeballs.

Michael examined the landscape for the hundredth time. He'd never been out here before, and didn't recognize landmarks that Jack might have told him about. If he weren't so worried, he would have thought the frozen trees and gleaming snow was an amazing sight. As it was though, he just wanted to get somewhere warm. "Sterling, I see smoke above the trees ahead. I think there may be a cabin ahead. Hopefully whoever owns it will let us inside." He shivered, blowing a puff of breath into the freezing air. He'd given sterling his coat. It looked goofy, so huge on her that she had to wear it like a blanket, but it was better than just that jacket she had been wearing. Silver would kill him if he didn't take care of her.

She nodded. He frowned... she'd become very reserved since leaving the castle. At first she had seemed excited, happy, almost... then she had gotten quiet. He couldn't tell what she was thinking. She seemed to be determined, but her silence was unnerving. "Sterling... are you okay? You've been really quiet," he said, his teeth chattering together.

She began walking, and he kept pace with her. She frowned. "Ethan told me to run when he fell. And he made sure I had Pepper. We were supposed to stay together, but he knew I was the only one who would get out. I have to make sure they get out, no matter what. They're counting on me... I just don't know what I'm going to do yet."

Michael looked at her, concern on his face... "We could try contacting your parents... Or Jack."

She glanced at him, "who's Jack?"

Michael shrugged, "I was traveling with him. He's a trainer I think... he had a job with some people, the International Police, or something. He says he's retired, but people kept calling him, so I don't exactly believe him about that. I'm a nurse, but I keep getting sidetracked by him. This is the second job I've lost because he's managed to drag me into something."

Sterling grinned, "you probably have more fun traveling with him than you would doing your job! My mom told me that a nurse traveled with her and daddy when they decided they liked each other..." She paused, looking over at him.

Michael smirked... "You got me... actually, I completely forgot to introduce myself," he stopped, turning to Sterling and crouching down to eye level. "My name is Michael, I traveled with your parents in Hoenn, but only for a short time." He reached out a hand.

"You know who I am..." She grabbed his hand and shook it, grinning. "And I'm going to be traveling with you, so that I can save my friends. So lets see if we can find out where that smoke is coming from, because if it's a house, maybe there's a way to call my parents."

Michael nodded, and then stood to keep walking. "You know, your friend Emily is my friend too. Me and her mom spend a lot of time together... and I care very much about them both."

Sterling looked up at him, "Emily doesn't like to take risks... she's always serious. All of this is my fault Michael, I'm the one who wanted to go running around the school. If I hadn't done that, we would all be safe at home."

"No, I don't think that's true Sterling. You met the people in that castle, I've met people from it too. If they wanted to take you there, I don't think there was much that could have stopped them. Except your parents, and if you were at school, then they would have been out of the way. It's probably not a comforting thought, but from what I learned from your parents and the other people I traveled with, is that there are people out there way worse than thieves and misguided trainers, and I think these are some of them. They would have waited for the right opportunity, maybe even years, just to get what they wanted." He frowned at the snow, then turned to look at the clear trail they were making through the woods. It wasn't snowing for once, and for once he wished it were. For a second he wondered if it was okay to be so frank about the situation with her, then he remembered who he was talking to.

Sterling glanced back too, noticing what he was looking at. Not good. "They'll find us really fast if we don't cover those tracks... if they haven't already. Michael, do you have any pokeballs? Any Pokemon?"

Michael dug in his pockets, and pulled out a handful of items. "I have two empty pokeballs, from Jack... I have a Linoon, but I don't know how good he is. I have a couple of ice heals, a potion, and then that's it. I left everything else back at Shiver Camp. Which has been taken over by a bunch of prison refugees."

Emily took the three Pokeballs, and threw out one, releasing Michael's Linoon. The Pokemon turned in a circle slowly, making a disgusted face at the snow. It stood on its hind legs and began grooming one of it's orange stripes. "Between Bonsly, Linoon, and Pepper, we should be able to catch a Pokemon like the one we saw before, or at least an Ice Pokemon. Bonsly isn't very strong, but she's pretty fast. I'm not sure how strong Pepper is, but she's a fire type, so that gives us an advantage against ice types. She seems pretty strong from that battle with the other Pokemon though. Your Linoon should be fast... It was a Zigzagoon when mom described it, so you must have battled some, because it evolved. It's probably the strongest Pokemon we have right now."

Michael whistled under his breath. "You certainly know your stuff... More than I do, that's for sure. Here's my question, how do we find one? The thing that you scared off back there was the only one I've seen besides that Lapras."

Sterling frowned, watching his Pokemon... "I don't know. It's a forest though, so we should see a few more Pokemon... we should go back some so that we can erase our footprints further when we find a Pokemon. Do you know what attacks your Linoon can use?"

Michael began listing, "Headbutt, Sand Attack, Odor Sleuth, Tail Whip," He paused looking at the Linoon... "I think he can still use Pin Missile from when he was a Zigzagoon, although I'm not really sure. We don't do a lot of battling."

Sterling crouched, reaching out a hand to the Pokemon. He darted forward, sniffing her hand, then rubbing his head up against it. She smiled, and scratched it's shoulders. "Hey Linoon, I know you don't have a lot of experience at battles... but we're going to need your help."

The Pokemon rolled his eyes up at her, in a manner that suggested he thought she was being ridiculous. Michael watched, somewhat surprised. "Linoon..." he muttered, watching his Pokemon. It turned, glancing up at him, then back at Sterling. "I know you don't know her, but she's not joking. Emily is in trouble. If we don't do this now, then we're not going to be able to help her later."

That caught it's attention, and Linoon widened it's eyes, staring up at Michael... Then it turned around with a short growl and faced Sterling. She nodded and sent out Bonsly and Pepper. "We need to catch a Pokemon; an Ice Pokemon, one that can cover up our tracks. So," she looked at the three... "We to find one first. Pepper, Bonsly, you go together. Linoon, I need you to look alone. No one go to far. And come back as soon as possible if we call."

The three Pokemon sounded their agreement, and went off to the left and right of them, disappearing off the path. Michael stared at the footprints left from Linoon. "Sterling?" he asked, still looking at the footprints.

"Yeah?"

"You act so grown up." He stated, crouching in the snow and pressing a gloved hand against the white powder. He examined the pattern it left for a second. The snow had stuck to his glove, making the hand print somewhat deformed.

Sterling shook her head at him, a slight frown on her face. "I'm just trying to do what mom and dad would do. I should have thought of covering our tracks earlier."

He looked over at her, taking a deep breath. "Sterling... You're six years old. You shouldn't have to think about covering tracks, or catching a Pokemon that can do it... Most wouldn't. Most would be terrified, and wouldn't know what to do at all... But you and your friends, you and Emily and Ethan, you all keep your heads don't you? Emily is always prepared, her mom has made sure of that, and Ethan... However you escaped had a lot to do with him, he's not ordinary either."

Sterling dragged her feet through the snow, heading back in the direction they had come from. "My mom taught me a lot. My dad was going to teach me more about capturing Pokemon after school. Emily doesn't talk about being at home a lot. Ethan told us, but it's a secret. We promised we wouldn't tell. He's really good with Pokemon though, better with them than I am," she glanced back at Michael, he was just a few steps behind her. "We're different."

He paused a step, then continued walking, surprised. He wasn't sure what to say, but after a second Sterling continued talking. "You said Emily's mom taught her to always be prepared. My mom told me a lot about what she did before. That she broke into peoples houses, that she hurt Pokemon. She told me about training hard and trying to get away..." her voice trembled slightly, and she took a breath to steady herself. Now wasn't the time to cry, she told herself. She could still feel her eyes prickling slightly though, and was upset that she couldn't control it. "And I want those stories to just be stories again. I want to go home, with Ethan and Emily. We were kidnapped because we're different. Because our parents were in Team Rocket," she stopped talking, and turned around to look at Michael. "I think this is far enough, since the path splits here."

Michael nodded, then crouched down in front of her and wiped the tears away. "We'll be okay Sterling. I know your parents, I know Emily's mom. They've probably already figured out where you are and are heading here right now. I would bet my left arm on it."

She smiled, "Since you're left handed, that's a pretty big bet."

.~.~.~.~.~

Ethan quickly gulped down one of the sandwiches, it was just a piece of cheese between two pieces of slightly stale bread, but he was happy for it. He felt like he hadn't eaten in days. He stood up slowly, looking at the room for the hundredth time. It was pretty sparse, just two mattresses on the floor, a few book cases, and an old writing desk with a chair that was chained up. He hadn't found any of the books from Emily's dream, but there had been a few interesting ones he'd pulled down. The ones that hadn't fallen apart he'd set on the desk. A boy that looked younger than him was sitting across the room reading, Ethan waved to get his attention, "David, do you want the other sandwich?"

David looked up, frowning slightly. He was pale, had soft gray eyes with deep shadows under them, and charcoal black hair that was cut short. It looked like it had just started growing out again. "Yes please... Ethan." He whispered, looking a little afraid.

Ethan grinned at him and brought the remaining cheese sandwich to him, setting the tray next to him. Ethan watched him for a second, then climbed up onto his mattress on the floor. "Why are you here David?"

He flinched away as if the question had stabbed him. Ethan frowned... "Sorry. I was kidnapped with my friends, Emily and Sterling. The guy who took us only took me because I saw what happened, but I'm glad he did. I'm not happy we're here, but I'm happy that I wasn't left behind. Emily and Sterling are my best friends in the whole world, so I'm glad I'm here so that I can help them."

David looked at him, a blank look on his face, "I don't remember. I woke up and was here, and these people kept hurting me. They kept yelling at me and asking me questions, but I don't remember anything. I know things, that I had parents, that whatever they want me to remember was very very important, but I don't remember... anything." He clutched his left hand to his chest, covering it with his right. He looked scared, his eyes slightly wide. Ethan could see that his breathing had picked up slightly.

Ethan touched his own hand, wondering... "what did he do to you?"

David stared at him for a minute, as if trying to figure out what to do. He stood and in a single movement had pulled off his shirt, tugging the sleeves off his arms and hands. "He broke my fingers... and..." He looked away as he held his arms out.

Ethan gasped. Long scars ran up and down his arms, onto his shoulders and neck. Ethan suspected that they ran onto his back too. Davids wrists were still wrapped in bloody bandages. He was too thin, and scars cut silver lines though his body. "He's going to leave me alone for a week, maybe two, and then he's going to come back," David whispered, "and he's going to hurt me over and over again. He says that it will be the same until I remember. He said he's going to burn me when he gets back."

He glanced around the room, worried that they could somehow be listening, then grabbed his shirt and put it on, curling up in a corner between the wall and one of the bookcases, and hid his face in his arms. Ethan stared, terrified. Would they do that to him? He stared around the room, looking at the Rattata holes. Could he get a message to Emily? He looked back at David... If he and Emily figured out how to get out, they had to take him with.

.~.~.~.~.~

Keri sighed, waiting for an irate Brook to finish his rant. The bridge was the perfect meeting spot, especially for the time of day. All the kids were at school, everyone who worked at Altru had already taken lunch and gotten home. The only one to explain anything to was Brook. Who seemed to be driving himself into a state of hysteria at the sight of Keri's outfit. "Would you just shut up already?" She growled, glaring at him.

"But! You, and- then... I have to-" He finally shut his mouth, hands firmly planted in his bubblegum pink hair. Like he was halfway between ripping it out or digging his nails into his head.

"You want to know about me right? You've been wondering for years, so here's your chance to learn. I was part of Team Rocket for six years. I decided I wanted to leave the organization about nine years ago. I worked hard to get out, and about seven years ago, on my last mission, I met Silver. Who was my target. I was supposed to make sure they could catch him, I was supposed to kill his Pokemon. Are you following this?"

Brook nodded, and Keri continued, "Good. Instead of doing what I was supposed to, which was pretty damn impossible considering that at the time all I wanted to do was..." she paused for a second, flushing pink, then cleared her throat and started again, "anyway, I decided to betray Team Rocket. Lets just say that me and Silver started getting along very very well. And since it's Team Rocket, and they always have a back up plan, he was captured anyway, and I was dragged along. Then I found out I was pregnant with Sterling, and Silver exchanged his freedom for our protection. Which is why he wasn't there for six years of Sterling's life. The situation now, Sterling has been kidnapped, and since Giovanni likes to be in control, and it's basically his mess, we're all putting on our uniforms and storming the castle. So when Silver, and Grant, and Viox show up, you are not going to freak out, got it?"

Brook nodded, frowning at her, "One thing I don't get, why the uniforms? Wouldn't normal clothes be more practical?"

Keri shifted the backpack on her shoulders. "Nope. Fireproof, waterproof, insulated, comfortable, easy to rip off if you have to. Definitely more practical than jeans and a sweater. Besides, they look really good. And my friend designed them, so it's really just plain courtesy to wear them."

"I... do not believe this. You're playing a prank right? You're just messing with me, and besides, that doesn't look like Team Rockets normal outfit."

"Believe it boy! You haven't even seen that gun she keeps in her backpack! Oh, and be glad you aren't going with them because how she acts around Silver is downright-"

"Grandpa!" Madison shouted, parking the small boat and pulling him away from the bridge, he looked like he was going to climb on it, which wouldn't have surprised her. She frowned up at Brook and Keri. "I'm sorry Keri! Hey, we're going to be meeting you out by Almia Castle, and we're not taking no for an answer. Team Rocket or not, we're a team, besides, you're probably not going to want to walk all the way back once you're done out there. Too bad this boat is even more cramped than the other."

Keri grinned down at her. "No problem Madison! Just make sure to stay safe. Hopefully everything will go alright, and you can meet Sterling."

"Don't worry Keri, you'll find her, you'll find all of them. I know you, and I know Silver. If anyone can survive out there, it's your kid." She laughed, and was glad to see that it made Keri smile.

Mr. Briney waved his cane up towards the bridge, shouting to Brook about him having a ditto on his head. Brook glared down at him, "Hey! For your information, my hair is natural!"

"Yeah! About as natural as plastic play food! You look like a mutant piece of bubblegum!"

"I do not!"

"Mr. Briney, I presume. I have to agree with you." Viox grinned as she walked towards the middle of the bridge. "He _does_ look like mutant bubblegum."

Brook frowned, glaring at her. "Great. Mutant bubblegum. Anyone else care to add their insults about my hair to this pile?"

"Yes. Although I would say you look more like a deranged Skitty... Keri, where's Silver? I thought he'd be here by now." Grant grimaced and shrugged his backpack further up his shoulders. He quickly fastened his pin to a spot on his shirt just above his heart. He missed giving out orders and just overseeing missions... probably a sign that he was getting soft. He frowned and rolled his shoulders back again.

"He's coming, just wait a few more minutes. He's looking for Sterling's Bonsly, the one that beat the crap out of you. Oh, and if anyone asks, you gave approval for the capture of it." She smirked at him.

"She took it to school with her that day. She probably still had it, and if they took it from her then good riddance. If they didn't, then maybe she's not the one who needs to be rescued. That stupid thing was a nightmare." Grant ignored her jab about being beat by the Pokemon and leaned over the bridge, glancing at Madison in slight confusion, then he shrugged it off. Whatever they were doing down there was absolutely none of his business, and he didn't want to know.

"Crobat, could you drop me please?" Silver thumped down onto the bridge, frowning. "I couldn't find her."

"Grant says she took Bonsly with her." Keri said, drinking him in with her eyes.

"I thought you said you weren't wearing the uniform." Viox stated, glaring at him.

Silver shrugged, "Keri talked me into it. It's not really the uniform, it's Giovanni. Anyway, the extra protection seemed like a good idea. Insulation, waterproof, sounded a little important in the snow."

"And the fact that Keri is now eyeballing you like she wants to jump you probably has very little to do with you wearing it, right? You two are messed up." Viox said, watching Keri blush with some amusement. "Of course, it's not the weirdest fetish I've heard of, so-"

"Viox!" Keri screamed. She had a hand on a pokeball, and looked like she wanted to tear her throat out. "Enough. I'm trying to find something to be positive about here, because if I get any more upset about this I'm seriously going to snap. So if you really have that much of a problem with me thinking Silver looks good in the uniform, just freaking deal with it."

Grant sighed, realizing that a subject change was extremely necessary. "So... since we're all here and Jack is going to meet us near the Peril Cliffs, and we're obviously not going to get anywhere just standing around, we should probably get started."

Silver nodded. "Keri, Viox is just upset about Emily. Since her best defense is being rude, it's probably a good idea to just let her blow off steam. It's not like everyone else here didn't already have it figured out, she just had the nerve to say it."

Keri sighed, breathing in deep through her nose and letting the air out slowly through her mouth. She knew it was obvious, she hadn't ever been very good at hiding embarrassment. Not to mention the fact that it was hard to stop staring at Silver _normally_... "So much for being in charge. What the hell was your father thinking?"

"Probably that you're a very strong leader when you need to be, and that putting Grant in charge would get his head chopped off by Viox, literally. Not to mention the fact that you understand how people organize themselves for confrontation. When something went wrong in your groups you took control, even when you weren't in charge. Oh, and you can launch an attack with your Scyther and dispatch an opponent in about three seconds flat. Plus, you're the best shot out of all of us here, and correct me if this legend is wrong, but you hospitalized your partner once because he wouldn't listen to you and got in your way, and this was someone you actually liked." He smirked, leaning against the bridge.

Keri bit her lip, then sighed, "I had my target sighted, and the idiot kept trying to keep me from attacking. I'd taken on worse and lived, although I suppose I should have attacked faster, because I ended up a bloody mess after that. Shouldn't have shot him, cause he screamed freaking bloody murder and alerted my target, it took twice as long as it should have and I barely got away... Had to go through some training for that. No one ever wanted to partner with me after that..." Keri suddenly clamped her mouth shut, eyes slightly wide, then growled, "I wouldn't consider that a leadership quality."

Brook backed away, slowly, down the bridge. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go and hide for about six hours. Because Keri, the awesome girl who saves Pokemon and likes ice cream cones, suddenly became Keri, the girl who will shoot someone who gets in her way and has probably killed people." He backed up a few more steps, then turned and ran down the street.

Keri muttered, "I only killed one person outside of self defense, and that was an accident."

"So you really did shoot that guy? Silver, are you _positive_ you like this girl?" Grant was staring at her with a slightly dumbfounded look on his face. He'd never actually gotten the full report on that incident... not that the reports they got half the time made any sense.

Viox turned to Grant, rolling her eyes, "Have you _met_ Silver? Seriously? Have you ever heard his name uttered? Because, honestly, they seem like a great couple to me. They're both just as willing to cut up anyone who gets in their way, that's for sure." She turned to Keri and Silver, "no wonder they were bugging for you to stay in Team Rocket."

"As pleasant and utterly disturbing this conversation seems to be, would one of you lift the bridge? We'd like to start heading to the Castle soon, and I'm pretty sure that it's important for you guys to get going too. Brook doesn't exactly seem like the type to keep his mouth shut. About anything. Keri, I'm really glad that you got your head together, because shooting people for annoying you and being concerned about your safety is possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard." Madison shouted from the boat. In the last fifteen minutes she had just learned far more about Keri than she had ever wanted to know.

Keri sighed and shook her head. Of course it had been stupid, she'd known it was stupid as soon as she'd done it. "Thank you for making that painfully clear. Grant, would you lift the bridge, then fly over? Silver, please scout ahead. Viox, I want you to remain nearby, but stay hidden. Grant, when you're done with the bridge, please stay back a ways and make sure we aren't being followed. If _any_ of you find _anything_ suspicious, report it immediately. I don't care if it's a rock that looks a little out of place. I expect to camp at the base of Peril Cliffs in six hours. If you run into trouble, use the emergency signal on your pin. Everybody move it!"

After a short chorus of 'yes sirs' and a smirk from Silver, they all dispersed to do their jobs. Keri waved to Madison and Mr. Briney, then made her way through the park and onto Union Road. Possibly the most dangerous place she could be seen wearing Team Rocket colors. She sighed and took off her pin, instead hooking it to the tank top under the black shirt. It would be around two in the morning when they got there. Six hours of sleep, then moving again, instead of the road they would take the woods until it got dark. Too much of a risk being recognized on the road, only half the risk of that happening in the woods. Not to mention Rangers... She sighed and kept up her pace, rubbing a hand through her hair. An enemy they knew everything and nothing about... Whoever had taken the prison was obviously smarter than Giovanni had thought.

.~.~.~.~.~

Jason watched with interest as the red haired girl shouted a command, then the blond's Linoon attacked. The Pokemon they were battling was clearly much stronger, but all three of the Pokemon she was using were fighting with every ounce of their being. He could see why. She was charming, certainly, and had a good strategy, but he could see her focus. It seemed to rub off on the Pokemon, and her encouragement went a long way with them. "Utterly amazing." He muttered, watching as she moved with her Pokemon, as she carefully waited until the right moment to attack. The Sneasel was much stronger, but didn't seem to have much experience battling like this. It was quickly losing focus and was getting weaker with each well placed attack. He supposed it made sense. She only had one chance left, she had to do her complete best. He'd watched her try to take out another Snover, but it had broken out of the Pokeball, then it had run off before she could attack it again. She'd learned her lesson, and had the Sneasel cornered.

The Sneasel dodged an attack from the Bonsly only to get hit by and Ember from the Growlithe. The puppy yelped as one of the Sneasel's claws struck her as she retreated. Sterling looked worried, but stayed on top of the Sneasel. It looked weak, very weak. She stared hard at the Pokemon, it was glancing back and forth between it's adversaries, panting. It knew it couldn't win... Jason leaned out further from the branch of the tree as she threw the pokeball.

A perfect hit, right on the gem on it's head. The ball floated just for a second, then opened and transferred the Pokemon inside, snapped shut, and fell to the snow with a soft muffled thump. Jason jumped down from the tree, on the edge of the path. "Did you get it?" he asked, making both Sterling and Michael jump.

Sterling carefully picked up the Pokeball, "I think so... Dad told me the first thing about capturing Pokemon is finding it's weak spot. I just had to attack it until I figured out where that was." She seemed almost entirely unfazed by Jason's sudden appearance.

Michael glared at the man who had appeared from nowhere. "What do you want?"

Jason shrugged. "Jack sent me. He said that he would meet you at Mrs. Winters cabin... I've been following you for a couple hours now actually. I wanted to see if she could actually catch the Pokemon," he looked at Sterling. "A little young to be a trainer, aren't you?"

Sterling glared at him, "No. And I'm doing a good job, since that's the first Pokemon I captured without anyone but the Pokemon helping. Two of them aren't mine."

Jason grinned. She was the redhead Jack had told him about alright. "And they followed your instructions perfectly without question. My name is Jason, my brother... well, he knows your parents, although I don't think he'd one hundred percent fond of them. I'm a Pokemon Ranger, no strings attached besides family, which is more than enough for some people, so I'd appreciate it if you kept that quiet. Oh, and I have Haunter trapped inside me because of an experiment gone wrong, but that can be easily overlooked. Since it saved my life, mostly."

Sterling blinked from the information overload... "So you're related to someone my parents know, and a Pokemon is trapped in your body?"

"Since most of the people her parents know seem to be from Team Rocket, those sound like related problems." Michael stated, annoyed. "It's great that Jack has let us know he's alive, but I have no clue where this cabin is, or where we are, actually. And we need to get somewhere warm before all of us end up sick."

Jason glanced around, looking at the frozen trees. "It's a lot colder out here than it seems... Normally this place is crawling with Pokemon. It took you hours just to find two. I know where Mrs. Winters cabin is, I've had to stay there a few times and wait out snowstorms, get Sneasel to cover our tracks and follow me." He turned and began walking down the path.

Sterling frowned at the Pokeball... they had used all of their supplies earlier, they had nothing to heal it with... She gently dropped the Pokeball, releasing the Pokemon. "Hey," she whispered, slowly crouching and looking at it. "I'm Sterling."

It glared at her, suspicion in it's eyes. She bit her lip, feeling completely guilty. "I'm sorry... but we need your help. We have some people chasing us, and we need you to cover our footprints."

It growled, ice blue eyes flaring with anger. Sterling backed up a little. "I know you're hurt, that's my fault. We have a problem though. If we don't keep those people away, then we'll all be in trouble. As soon as you're healed up, I'll let you go... if you want."

It turned away, looking at the footprints. Sterling sighed, she had given it a shot, but she'd felt like this was what would happen. She could see that it was weak, that it hadn't used very many ice attacks while fighting. "Well, I'm still not letting you go until you've been healed. It would be stupid to capture you and then just let you die out here because I couldn't even take care of you."

It shot a glare at her as she pulled it's Pokeball out of her pocket. She paused as it looked her in the eyes. She held the gaze, trying to keep calm. Pokemon almost never looked in peoples eyes, not like this. She shifted slightly on her feet. Michael watched with interest, but was worried. "Sterling," he started, but she held up her hand.

The Sneasel spun around and whipped it's claws around, causing a wind to blow snow all over the place. It stopped, the wind still whipping around, and began walking in the direction Jason had gone. Sterling followed. Michael watched, wondering what exactly had just happened, and kept pace a few feet back.

XOX

Okay, so I couldn't help myself, don't bite my head off. I couldn't decide on what Ice Type to give her. Spheal or Snowrunt, and then there's Delibird and Snover and Seel too, and you know what? I spent an hour looking at that list of Ice Type Pokemon, going back and forth trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to let her catch, thinking I should probably go with something that's likely to be at a lower level... and in the end I just broke and had her catch a Sneasel anyway. Of course, it doesn't have to like her. And what's with so many ice type pokemon names starting with the letter S?

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Silver stared up at the top of the tent, releasing a small sigh. How familiar this was, how utterly typical. The same kind of tent, with the exact same material, in the exact same boring blue. Like walking into a house you thought you were going to abandon for good, only to find that it's the only place you have to live until the new one is built. He'd just gotten off watch duty, an irate Grant replacing him, and now he couldn't sleep. He heard a murmur from the tent next to his, and he rolled over, pressing his ear to the coarse wall of his tent. "Keri?" He muttered.

He heard some rustling movement, then, "hey Silver."

He smiled, feeling like a little kid who'd gone camping with his friends, and couldn't get to sleep long after everyone else had told him to... or at least he thought that's what it felt like. He'd never been camping with friends. He frowned at that thought, but pushed it away, muttering, "I can't sleep."

"I just woke up. I would have thought that sleeping in a real bed for six years would change my ability to sleep on everything between Pokecenter beds and rocks, I guess not," she whispered.

Silver chuckled, glad that they'd set up their tents so close, and a little worried that someone else was probably listening. He decided he didn't care. "Pokecenter beds and rocks are a little too similar," he muttered, then smirked as she burst into quiet giggles.

"Want to test that theory?" she whispered.

"I don't think we'd get much sleep." He murmured.

He heard Keri shift position, "Yeah..." he frowned at her tone as she continued. "I'm worried about Sterling."

"Me too. I'm sure she's okay though... She's got Emily, who's as smart as she is, and Ethan. He seems like a nice kid, he's good with Pokemon from what Sterling told me. Viox said she told Emily what to do if something like this happened, and Sterling is smart, she'll figure out what to do." He frowned at the words... he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

It was quiet for a long time, and he started to worry that maybe she was just trying to get back to sleep, finally, "what if we find them..." he heard her voice catch, heard her take a deep breath... and before he even heard what she was going to say, felt a deep panic settle in his chest. "What if they killed her, Silver?"

Even at barely a whisper, her voice broke. It took him too long to unzip his tent, for him to shoot a glare at Grant as he began to protest, for him to crawl into Keri's tent and wrap her in his arms. Like he could protect her from her own mind. Each action had felt like forever to him, like he couldn't do it fast enough. Whose stupid idea had it been to make them all sleep in separate tents anyway? She buried her face in his shoulder, crying silently. Her body shook, and he held her closer, tighter. The thought had never crossed his mind, that she could be dead. Now it took the foremost spot in his thoughts. What if they were searching for bodies, walking into a trap led by the false belief that someone wouldn't kill children. He felt a shiver run down his spine. It was stupid to let himself believe something like that for even a second. He should know better, far better. He couldn't stand the thought though, her bright eyes devoid of life... just the idea alone was enough to make bile rise in his throat. He pushed away the image. "Keri, _she_ _is not dead_. "

"I'm sorry." She mumbled into his shirt, then she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his chest. "I shouldn't have said it. Things will just be worse now."

Silver marveled at her for a second, how she could be so in control of herself, how she so easily held her emotions back when the situation called for it, yet now she seemed exactly like he had first met her... vulnerable, a little self conscious, free with her emotions. Almost like two different people. "No they won't. Everything will go according to plan, and we'll be home in a week at the most." He stroked her back, and suddenly a thought popped into his head, "hey, since when did _I_ become the optimistic one?"

Keri turned in his arms and leaned against his chest, "maybe you have a point." She murmured.

Silver sighed, not entirely sure what to say... "No, I don't. We aren't going to be okay until we see her and get her home, safe. Trying to pretend otherwise isn't going to help. I believe with everything in me that we will find her, and she will be okay, she'll be _alive_, but I'm not going to be alright until I actually _see_ that." He let his hands slide down her arms and curled his fingers with hers.

.~.~.~.~.~

The Doctor rubbed his hands together in the cold, trying to warm them with the friction. He knew it was futile, but he did it anyway, making an effort to bring some more feeling into his hands. "Negative twenty degrees, thirty five below with windchill." He muttered, looking around the camp. It had been here, of that he was positive... he could feel the trail, it had been here very recently.

"Ian, what are you doing?" A boy, fifteen years old, Ian guessed, strode towards him quickly. "It's freezing out here, where's your coat dude?" The boy shivered, snow whipping at his face.

He glared at him, the right side of his top lip twitching slightly. "I don't need one. If the cold kills me, then so be it. It won't though," he said, then muttered, almost so the boy couldn't hear, "colder than ice."

He shook his head, eyes suddenly showing a wariness for the man. "Hess is on the phone for you, he says there's a problem."

Ian nodded and stepped past the boy. The renovations were going quite nicely, the communications building was already set up, and they'd immediately gotten a direct link to the castle. He listened intently to the crunching of the snow beneath his boots. He enjoyed the sound. Actually, he enjoyed all of it. Locked up in that dungeon had done something to make him greatly appreciate everything outside of it. Down to the image of his footprint in the snow, to the feeling of the wind whipping across his skin. It was all new, all beautiful. And he was going to use it as best he could.

He opened the door of the building and walked inside with deliberate slowness, knowing that the waiting was driving Hess insane. Absolutely insane. It made him smile, to cause this small discomfort to the man. He picked up the phone, sitting down in front of the screen. "Hello, Andrew Hess."

Andrew nodded. "Ian Kane. Doctor, we have a problem."

"So the boy said. What is it?"

Andrew frowned, annoyed at Ian's slow and calm demeanor. Being locked in that cell had done some good for his patience, but it seemed that it hadn't been enough. "One of the children escaped. Little girl, six years old. She's a little tall for her age, with bright red hair and silver eyes. She's got some experience with Pokemon, and had one on her when we took her. Harmless Bonsly. The boy we captured also had a Pokemon but it's missing now. We believe that she has it, it's a Growlithe. One of our guards saw her escape with a blond man, on a Lapras. By now they should be on your side, and since you have the best trackers with you," he paused, a smirk sliding onto his face. He knew Ian would like this part, he always loved this part, "we want you to track them down and... Terminate them."

Ian ran his tongue along his bottom lip, small smile staying in place on his face. He kept his eyes on Andrew's... "Of course. Quick and bloody. Although the blond man, he was here when we took over the camp. I'm going to interrogate him once we catch him." He set the receiver down as he turned away from the computer. Hess... Ian shook his head. If his information was correct, that was Giovanni's granddaughter. Her death would be quick, that was positive, but not without pain. Giovanni would pay, in full, for the last thirty years. And Ian would take anything that would hurt Giovanni even in the slightest, and use it.

.~.~.~.~.~

Emily took a sip of the soup, wary of whatever was in it. She'd stayed up all night, going over whatever she could in the books. She'd learned so much from just reading two of them. Legends about the castle, some things about training, medicine that could be made. She'd also learned more about the man who had written them and his son. "Killed because he could talk to Pokemon..." she whispered, glancing at the pile of leather bound books. She felt a shudder run down her spine. She had to keep Ethan's secret, it was even more important now. The man kept talking about Binding, and she'd practically memorized every fact about that she could. There wasn't much about how it was done yet, but there was enough on what it was. Connecting a human and a Pokemon permanently, using each other as a life source. They would live the same amount of time, but if one of them was killed the other would die unless they could bind to another Pokemon or human within a few hours. So far the man called it a myth, but the fact that his son could speak to Pokemon proved it's truth.

She ate some more of the soup, pushing the thoughts about Binding away. She wished she could understand more of the things in the books, but she'd gotten most of it... "I wish Ethan were here," she whispered, looking out her window. She'd found a legend in the books about a man who made a rope out of his clothing, and climbed down the castle onto a pokemons back, and the Pokemon took him far north, where it dropped him off in a deep forest, and another, a bird, froze him solid, and he stayed frozen for years until a group of villagers found him and rescued him. He'd later saved the village by fighting a dark Pokemon, even though he knew that it would kill him. The legend said that the sword he had used to fight had gained a special power from his sacrifice. Emily wondered what it would have been like, to fight the dark Pokemon. Probably terrifying... she wondered how anyone could go to fight like that, when they knew they were going to die. She wrapped her arms around her knees, setting her soup on the table next to the bed. She wasn't hungry anymore.

After a few minutes she heard a scratching sound, and sat up straight, heart pounding. She looked around her room, suddenly frightened. What had that noise been? Was something in her room? She pulled the blankets on the bed up around her, backing into the headboard. She almost screamed when a little purple head appeared from the foot of her bed, but instead she released a breath of air in relief. Just a Ratata. She pushed her blankets off and the Pokemon climbed onto the bed, scurrying to her and dropping something, then turning and running away. She saw it disappear behind the bookcase. She looked at what it had dropped, and picked it up. It was a piece of paper, a heavy one. She unfolded it and looked at the writing. _"Go to sleep. Ethan."_

.~.~.~.~.~

David wondered what this boy was doing. He'd torn up the paper plate they had sent their food on this time, and written on it, then he had given it to a Rattata and had laid down to sleep with an Abra floating over his head. He'd thought that Ethan was odd before, but this was getting really really weird. He tried to walk to him, but bumped into a force field. He looked at the Abra... something was going on here and he wanted to know what.

Ethan slept peacefully, curled under the thin blanket... as soon as he was dreaming the Abra helped him focus. He searched for an opening, and found it quickly. It took the form of a window, he pushed it open and stepped through it onto a carpeted floor. "_Ethan._" He jumped at his name, looking around. He walked through the room and shoved open a heavy door, finding himself in a warmly lit hallway. He shivered as his bare feet touched cold flagstones. He waved, seeing Emily standing on a staircase that was down the hall a little ways. She ran over to him, wearing a pretty dress, green with little gold buttons. "We're going to the ball." She grabbed his hand and walked down the stairs with her, "I remembered I'm dreaming this time, I heard you come in. I thought this would be fun."

He smiled, stopping and hugging her tight. "I miss you Emily. Your dress is pretty."

"You look nice too Ethan," she giggled, pointing out that he was suddenly wearing a nice, but old fashioned, suit. "I found out a lot of stuff in those books, and there's stories about the castle and a whole bunch of stuff about Binding in them. I found some really cool legends too. This is one is about a thief who dressed up and pretended to be a lord so that he could get into the castle and kidnap the princess during a party... He wrote down lots of stories like that. The guy who wrote the books, he wrote down a whole bunch of stories that he thought might be true."

Ethan grinned, then suddenly remembered what he had wanted to talk about. He needed to tell her, before they went off to play. "Emily, there's a boy they put in the same room as me. He's been hurt really bad, and he says that he's going to get hurt more because the people here are trying to get him to tell him something, and he doesn't know what they want him to tell them. We have to get him out of here Emily, he's really scared."

Emily stared off for a second, thinking. Why would they do that? Maybe they didn't have enough rooms? Even though it was a castle? Whatever the reason, she agreed with Ethan, "you're right. Sterling will bring help, but we have to find a way to let her know he's here too. Can't you talk to her like you can to me?"

Ethan shook his head, "no. I tried, she's too far away. I'm really worried about her. What if she just got captured, or what if she got stuck in the snow and froze?"

She shook her head, a slight frown on her face, "Sterling is tough, like you and me. She'll be okay. And you gave her Pepper, so she could stay warm. I bet she's already gotten help, I bet we're going to be rescued tomorrow and we can go home and I can help you with your math homework again, and we can go see what was in the basement you wanted to show us."

Ethan flinched a little, "the basement is the whole reason we have this problem."

"No it's not. We got captured once, because we weren't prepared. Next time we'll be prepared, and you can show us. Sterling will bring her Pokemon, and you can bring yours, and we'll train them so that we can sneak down there after school and see what it's like," she said, grinning. The entire time they had been talking, they had been walking along, and they stopped outside some large doors. Emily pushed one open, and grinned as she walked inside.

Ethan followed, staring around. The hall was lit with what looked like thousands of candles in every size and shape, with people in masks dancing around, and there was a huge table of food and drinks. The candles lit the stone gray walls, making them look blue in places where they weren't covered by colorful tapestries. Emily grabbed his hand again and pulled him over to the wall. "Here," she whispered, "we'll watch." After a few minutes, she pointed, "there he is, the thief!"

Ethan watched, fascinated. The thief wore a black mask over his face, and a blue cape that hid his body. He had on a red and white suite, and he was dancing with a young woman who had deep brown eyes. He whispered something in her ear, and they danced towards the door. "Come on, lets follow them Ethe! You're going to love this, really!"

She ran ahead of him and he darted after her, ducking around people dancing and out the door after her. She grabbed his hand again, just as he tripped over a rug. Emily fell down with him, laughing. "Come on Ethe!" she said, standing and helping to pull him up, "you have to see how the story goes, no time for tripping over rugs!"

They spent the rest of the dream following the thief and the princess, knowing they were completely unseen. Ethan was happy just to spend time with Emily, even though he knew it wasn't real, it felt real enough that he could forget for a while that he was really locked in a room in the castle. And she was right, he really liked the story.

.~.~.~.~.~

Michael sipped the hot chocolate, glancing around the cabin. Sterling had fallen asleep on the couch, completely exhausted. She was covered in what looked like a handmade quilt. He had tried to fall asleep in his sleeping bag on the floor, but couldn't relax at all. Jason was completely knocked out, he wasn't even snoring. The nice old woman who lived here had gone to bed in her room a long time ago, telling them that they could eat or drink anything in house. She hadn't even blinked at them being there, like visitors out in the snow was the most natural thing in the world. She'd greeted Jason like he was her own grandson. He turned at he heard footsteps, smiling at her. Mrs. Winter had on a pair of dark blue pajamas, a bath robe, and a pair of fuzzy pink slippers. "Couldn't sleep?" She asked, glancing at Sterling and then at Jason.

He sighed, "yeah. I never can when stuff like this happens. I don't think I've gotten a good nights sleep in months. Sorry if I woke you up."

"No, you didn't. I haven't been sleeping well either, knowing that the castle has been taken over by that thug," she stifled a yawn and walked over to the kitchen.

Michael glanced at her curiously, and she smiled at him. "Nothing happens in that place without me knowing about it. Unsurprisingly there aren't very many prisoners, only about one hundred, maybe a few more... Add in the people from Team Rocket who switched sides, and you have around one hundred fifty people. That's why it's not guarded very well, forty of them went off to take over Shiver Camp, the rest stayed behind and have to work to make sure the place doesn't freeze," she pulled some stuff out of the fridge, and began chopping vegetables. "Cook. Clean. Only about twenty stand guard, the rest do chores. Not the trade out they thought they were getting, but they seem to think it will be worth it."

"I know better than to ask how you know all of that," he said before taking another sip of his now cold coco. "Sterling managed to get out, with help, but after that they're not going to make it possible for them to even try whatever they did again."

"You're talking about your little girl. And the boy. You told me earlier." She shoved the vegetables aside and leaned against the counter.

Michael frowned, "she's not mine, but yeah. I know Sterling's parents, I know Emily's mom, but I don't know when they're getting here... or what I'm supposed to do."

"I'd guess that you're supposed to keep Sterling safe, and wait. You seem very sure that they're going to show up."

Michael nodded once, "I know they're going to show up. Viox doesn't give up, she pretty much just tears at whatever mission she's been given until it's impossible for her to complete it, or she's taken off it. I don't know a lot about Silver and Keri, but I'm pretty sure that they'll kill people if they have to."

Mrs. Winter gave him an alarmed look, "I'm not sure if the fact you're being serious, or the fact that you spend time with these people, scares me more. What about your friend Jack?"

Michael shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he's got this all figured out, but he acts so crazy now that it's hard to really figure out what he's thinking. Or maybe he was always nuts and I just didn't notice before. I think that it's this whole castle thing that's driving him crazy though."

"It's the connection." A voice from the floor muttered.

Michael and Mrs. Winter both stared at Jason, who was sitting up in his sleeping bag. He looked at them both. "What?" He asked, looking back and forth. "If you guys are going to wake someone up while talking then you should at least let them input. Mike knows what I'm talking about here, the connection, binding, whatever the hell you want to call it. He talks to his Dragonite girlfriend in his head, whatever. Anyway, we basically go where we're supposed to, except Jack and Hannah are supposed to be in different places. Hannah is supposed to be wherever they are right now, he's supposed to be here. At least that's what Shadow says, and since he's stuck in my head, it's hard not to listen to him. Are you making omelets again? I'm starving, want help? You're going to love this Mike, she makes the best omelets ever. I swear."

"Omelets." Michael stated, not sure if he was irritated or dumbfounded.

"Yes, I just went from the whole connection thing to omelets. I'm hungry. Besides, Jack will show up in a couple days. I guarantee it. Shadow is going crazy, but since we're basically stuck together, well, we compromised." He yawned, standing up and scratching his head. "Mrs. Winter knows about that well enough, she can tell you. I'm going to the bathroom," Jason said as he walked down the hall.

"I don't want to know." Michael said.

Mrs winter shrugged, and went back to making food. "Good, because I'm not explaining that mess."

XOX

Keri around Silver and Keri being a Rocket mixed is weird and hard to write. On the one side, she's calmer, level headed, and will literally shoot you(okay, that's really a sort of inside joke thing I need to write out) if you get between her and what she wants. On the other side, she pretty much just wants to break down and cry, and can. Emotions were something of a luxury she hadn't really used on other missions, you get the job done and at any cost. And you don't think about it, you just do it. But it's her daughter. It's Silvers daughter, and as much as she wishes that it could just be another mission, it isn't. As much as they all wish it were just another mission, it isn't.

Also, how Mrs. Winter knows everything about the castle? I have no clue. There are ghosts in that place, and eventually I'm going to write them all out. But not here and not now. She's used to Jason though, she's known him for a few years, although that doesn't make him any easier to explain.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

"_Jack._"

"_Yeah, I know. It's time, right?_"

"_Aretti is going to be here soon. They'll take care of me, and I can take care of myself. Besides, we can always talk. Leave me with my pokeball,and don't worry. We've put it off as long as we can, but Michael is going to need you. And you need to explain it to him before it happens._"

"_I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate myself for this. Knowing that there's really nothing I can do._"

"_You don't have to tell me._"

"_I love you Hannah._"

"_Jack... I..._" she was silent for a long time.

"_I know... Hannah, I know._"

The Aerodactyl appeared beneath Hannah, and Jack, giving her a light kiss on the back of her neck, jumped down, landing on Aretti's back with a light thump. He waved at her, and they disappeared as quickly and quietly as the Aerodactyl had shown up. Hannah stared as they disappeared, then looked down at the forest below. Icefall Cave was their next destination. She didn't look forward to getting through it. Every fiber of her mind wanted her body to be where Jack was. It already felt as if a part of her was missing, like something had been cut away from her body. She shifted his pack around her neck, and wrapped her arms around it. She sighed, then mumbled, "I love you too."

.~.~.~.~.~

The Porygon-Z flitted out of existence for a second, then found itself drifting through numbers... it resisted the urge to mess with the programming, and instead found the exit it was looking for. In a second it had appeared in a stone gray room, and did a little dance, pleased with itself. "_Ohh, guess what! I'm in the castle! Now to find the boy._"

"_Just be careful Gizmo, you've gotten yourself into enough trouble already, the entire camp is looking for you. Silver would be pissed if he knew about this._"

The Pokemon rolled it's eyes, knowing that she couldn't see, and set up a small virus and downloaded it into the computer. That should be a nice little surprise... "_Aw relax. Silver isn't here, besides, you've done far better than he would have expected. How's the leg feeling, or not feeling?_"

"_I'm okay for now, it's not giving me much trouble. Dagger has been helping to keep us warm, and Kitten is keeping guard right now. Just hurry up and get him out, before I have to go in myself. We're going to have to get out of here by the Ranger Union rout, we can't pay for another boat trip._"

"_What kind of Rocket are you? Seriously? Just tie up the guy, he's a con artist anyway. It's not like you don't have experience in that. If I recall, you told me that he had you learn at least eighteen different knots. And I was there for half of it, he probably would have thrown the guy overboard with a six pack of water and wished him luck._" Gizmo disappeared into the computer program again, jumping along until he found another exit. He zapped out into the middle of a kitchen from the florescent light above.

"_I'd rather not leave a trail. Just find him, it shouldn't be that hard, you can access his memory through the chip, so hurry up._"

"_You got it girly! One experiment gone wrong, coming right up._" He zipped through the open door, and down the hall, waiting for the chip to resonate enough for him to pinpoint it. He knew he was going to pay for that little jab later, but her reaction was more than worth it. It was a little joke between them anyway, a little reminder of what exactly they were...

He shuddered to a halt, staring at the creature in front of him. It hissed, shooting a beam of frozen air straight at him. He twisted and dodged, then glared at his attacker. Frosslass. He shuddered and zipped into one of the lights wired above. Something wasn't right about that Pokemon... None of the rooms had wiring though... it was either the door or nothing... he took a second to plan, then jumped from the florescent bulb, attacking behind her, then jumping back into the lights. He did this over and over, then stopped suddenly... he couldn't see her. Suddenly pain jolted through him as the light he was smashed. He twitched around, trying to gather enough energy as fast as he could, materializing with a pop. Another sharp pain through his body, he heard a shout from her, and then everything went black.

.~.~.~.~.~

Sterling shivered, staring out at the falling snow. If their tracks hadn't been covered good enough yesterday, they definitely were today. "We're stuck here aren't we?" She asked, crawling down from the window seat and looking around the room. The Sneasel she had caught yesterday was sleeping near the door in a small pile of blankets it had torn up. Pepper, Michael's Linoon, and Bonsly were curled together near the fire place, Pepper watching everything calmly. Linoon and Bonsly were sleeping peacefully.

Mrs. Winter took a drink of coffee before answering, "you could try your luck out there, but even the best of rangers have a hard time in that weather."

"What about trainers?"

She looked up, giving Sterling a curious glance. "I haven't met many trainers, I wouldn't know. I'd guess that it would take a little more than a snowstorm to stop them though. Especially determined ones."

Sterling nodded and sat on the floor, leaning against Pepper. "Especially strong ones. I miss my mom, and my dad. I don't even know what happened to make the people in that castle want to hurt them so badly. Michael says that they're coming, that they'll be here in a few days... but what about Emily's mom? I'm safe, I'm here with you, and she's still in the castle. How am I supposed to explain that?" She had pulled Bonsly onto her lap, and was gently stroking the Pokemon.

Justin looked at her along with Mrs. Winter, who seemed at a loss for words. He ran a hand through his hair. "Holey Miltank patties. Look kid, none of this is your fault, and the fact that even just you got out is amazing. Michael is out there, right now, freezing his butt off, waiting for a message from Jack, because he knows that whatever message he gets is going to be about your parents. If Emily's mom has any sense in her at all, she'll understand what happened, and know that you all did your best. Most kids wouldn't have even thought up a real plan, let alone one that worked well enough to actually get one of you out. For the Nintales sake, you're six years old. You keep telling yourself this is all your fault, when that's not even possible. You haven't lived long enough for anything to be your fault. Unless you managed to piss off an entire organization by playing with Pokemon and loving your parents."

Sterling glared at him. "For some reason that didn't make me feel better."

Jason tapped his head, "yes it did. Don't lie to Pokemon kid, especially Ghost Types. It made you feel better, you just wish that there was some way you could go in there and save your friends."

Sterling promptly stuck her tongue out at him, but did admit to herself that it had made her feel a little better. Mrs. Winter was glaring at Jason, but he was putting a good effort towards ignoring her and avoiding eye contact, knowing that he was going to get an earful for speaking that way around a Six year old... although she'd certainly heard worse come out of his mouth. He felt relief as Michael burst through the door, then worry. Michael was in a state, half his face was covered in blood and bruises, and he had tears in his coat. Terror washed through him suddenly, and he'd returned all of the Pokemon and grabbed Sterling before the first word had left Michael's mouth. He panted, "Go, now, GO! We all have to get out of here, they found us, they're going to kill her!" He slid to the floor, grabbing his leg. Jason could see tears in his clothing, and blood seeping through.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Michael shook his head, grimacing up at them, "I'm pretty sure I killed one of them..." he slid a gun across the floor. "Those two years of martial arts Viox made me take just paid off. I guess I really fit in now, don't I?" He laughed, short and rough, more like a cough, "they're not going to kill me, they said they wanted me alive. You have to take Sterling and run... Mrs. Winter, I'm so sorry. Sterling, no matter what you do, don't let them catch you. They're going to kill you. Jason... you're freaking insane, but I have to trust you, whether I want to or not. If you let me down, I'll personally beat the shit out of you."

Jason swung Sterling onto his back, and she held on, staring at Michael. "Don't worry bout it Mike. Just hang in there. When you see Jack, tell him he's an asshole."

Mrs. Winter glared at him, but didn't say anything. She had a feeling that Sterling would be learning many new words from Jason. Michael gave a thumbs up, and Jason ran out of the cabin, disappearing into the flying snow. She turned back to Michael, "you had better get in here, I have a basement. You can try to hide down there. You're beat up pretty bad, but I may as well _try_ to fix you up."

Michael managed to get inside with her help, and she shut the door. "Sorry you have to see me like this. I guess when you keep the company I do, you're bound to shoot someone sometime. Viox made me take some martial arts lessons, and she taught me how to use a gun. I didn't want to, but I'm glad for it now. They shot me up pretty good before I could get away... can you believe that I was going to be a doctor some day? I went through Nursing School, really liked it. I started studying, got some second hand books... I was going to move out here and start school. I was going to marry Viox, or at least ask her to marry me. It's been six years, I love her like... the sky loves the sea... She's my best friend, even though she's harsh sometimes. She's got another side though, she isn't always cold... I was there while she was pregnant with Emily... I promised I would take care of her... and when things started going wrong..."

The entire time he was talking, she was making him move towards an open hatch in front of the fireplace. She carefully led him down the stairs, making sure that he didn't fall. "You need to be quiet now."

Michael suddenly focused through the pain, nodding. "It's going to hurt when you take those bullets out, but wait until they're gone. I know myself, I can't take pain like that. I'll scream... if you have any vodka, rum, something alcoholic, whiskey is the preference, you'll want me to drink it. It'll make me bleed a lot more, but it should deaden the pain. You're going to need to tie me down, since you don't have anyone to hold me. I know you have needle and thread. That will do well enough for stitches as long as you thread it through alcohol. I'll probably feint halfway through, if I don't before you come back." He took a deep breath, shutting his eyes and digging his nails into his palm. "My left arm is out of socket. You're going to have to put it back. If they find me down here, let them take me, don't try to stop them. They want information out of me, and they aren't going to ask nicely... they'll heal me up first. I think they believe that I know more than I actually do, which will keep me alive longer. Damn Jack... why did he have to drag me into this?" He growled, leaning back against the wall. Mrs. Winter ascending the stairs was the last thing he remembered before the pain took complete hold.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver returned Fearligatr, stepping off the dock and looking around. They had gone all over the cave, and found out that the only exit was blocked by a huge wall of ice. Go figure. "So. Anyone have any ideas? We've been traveling around here for hours, and the only way out is back the way we came."

Keri sighed, leaning against the wall of the cave. "It's getting late, Jack is missing, Grant has already fallen asleep, so has Hannah, and Viox already set up her tent. Our idea is that it's time to go to sleep. Tomorrow we'll use any fire moves our Pokemon know to melt a hole in that thing, and then hopefully we can get through. Other than those two rangers, we didn't have any problems today..." She yawned, although she didn't really look very tired, just sad. "I don't know what to expect tomorrow. We might just have to get our Pokemon to try and fly us over."

"I don't have a flying type." Viox said, striking a match and placing it against some dried out wood and paper. "Neither do you, Keri. I don't know about Grant, he mostly uses Ground Types, but I'd bet that he doesn't have any Flying Types on him either. So that leaves Silvers Crobat, and Hannah. I'd rather take my chances with that ice wall than fly."

Keri and Silver sat on the ground, near the fire she was starting. "What's wrong with flying?" Keri asked, leaning against Silver. She was supposed to treat this like a mission, but there was no way in hell she was going to pretend that he was just another team member.

"I don't like it, it makes me sick. Heights aren't exactly my favorite." She finally got it lit, and made a point of watching it instead of making eye contact. "You get dropped off a building when you're five, and it sort of ruins them for the rest of your life."

"Who the hell drops a child off of a building?" Keri muttered, knowing the answer to her own question.

"You'll find plenty of them in Veilstone City. Street gangs, Sellers, Cutters, Slavers... You take your pick. It was only a matter of time before me and my brother got adopted into something or caught and killed by the Cutters. And we were lucky. Team Rocket is still a hero in my eyes, because there were so many worse things out there. Children have been killed in this organization, I know that. They're also given a chance to survive, really survive, not just live. I don't know where Tod ended up, but I know he's not dead. When someone saves your life and defies the most powerful gang you know about, you don't just give what they say you owe and leave," she began digging in her pack, and pulled out her Pokeballs. "You stay with them for life. I wasn't going to let Emily join though. I prepared her for things. Taught her how to shoot a gun, although Michael doesn't know about that. I know what Team Rocket does. I've done more than my share of things... We've all killed people. We've all hurt people, killed their Pokemon, kidnapped them, tracked, stolen, trained. I was hoping to save Emily from a life like that. Teach her what she needs to know to protect herself, but keep her from seeing what I've done. And now she's right in the middle of what I was trying to keep her out of."

Silver kept his eyes on the glowing fire. It didn't seem to be keeping the cold away. After a moment he spoke. "Tod Creed is fine. He's been assigned to unit zero, and is a squad leader. They promoted him a few months after I joined."

"So he's a Rose now."

Silver nodded. "Nice Tattoo and everything. Got a white one instead of the traditional red, on the back of his neck. He looks a lot like you, but he was always busy on a mission or off somewhere else. Rumors flew around about where he was, but I wouldn't believe half of them."

"The Roses will treat him good, we take care of our own. Roses are given a much looser leash than most Rockets, but the color of the Rose is important. It's a sort of unwritten law we have, red pretty much means that you're open to a relationship, or just don't know the code. Purple means that you don't want a relationship. White means you're taken, and are completely off limits. Giovanni knows about most of it, he lets it fly with the Roses because we still do every mission we're given better than . Roses are the best, that's why they're sent in first." She said, drawing a rose in the sand on the cave floor.

Viox smirked, noticing the expression on Silvers face. He looked somewhat confused. "I don't think that your boyfriend is entirely sure how he feels about what you just said. I think it's the use of present tense that's messing him up."

Silver glared at her. Wishing for a second that the phrase 'if looks could kill' was literal. "I was mostly thinking about the fact that most of the Rumors about your brother have just been proven true. Actually, a lot of stuff about the Roses just became very clear. What about yellow?"

Keri bit her bottom lip, not meeting his eyes. "Yellow means that you'll take anything with a gender. They're a little... ostracized. They're typically given missions where you have to get something off someone. Good news is that they're good at it."

Viox made a face. "Well, we know that Roses aren't exactly chosen for morals. I thought all of the colors were some sort of ranking thing."

Keri rolled her eyes. "It's not exactly supposed to be common knowledge. You typically get a week to figure out what you want before they give you the tattoo. It's customary to get the Rose under the R, but you can get it wherever you want really. Everyone has a status, grunts to elites, but the color has nothing to do with it. And the status thing isn't really used."

"So it's basically a gang inside the gang? Something is a little messed up there." Silver said as he dug through his pack for a bottle of water.

Keri shrugged. "Right. A little messed up, says the person who should probably know more than all of us about Team Rocket."

Silver grimaced. "Yeah. I don't know about the Roses, they weren't exactly anything I had to worry about. I spent most of my time training people, which, by the way, they based almost entirely after your own style. Every time I thought I had learned everything about you, someone would pop up with some new little fact."

"Did they tell you about the time she stood on a chair and chewed out an Admin because of how he was treating his Squads? That was entertaining to watch. Everyone seriously thought she was an Elite after that, but only because he actually listened to her. I was new to the squad, she joined a different squadron a few days later, but that was seriously funny."

"Viox, come on, that was ten years ago," she whined, burying her head in her arms. She had entirely forgotten about that. It was weird to her that Viox had been there.

Silver frowned slightly, "you stood on a chair and yelled at an Admin at fourteen years old, and only got sent to a different Squadron?"

Keri looked up, "no. I stood on a chair, yelled at an Admin, got a warning not to do it again, and was offered a position in a better Squadron, with better pay. I took it. Actually, after that I never got a mission from an Admin again. That's when the phone calls started. Come to think of it, I probably should have gotten in a lot more trouble for making that guy look like an idiot, but he really deserved it. I shouldn't have told him I'd be better at his job than him though, that was just setting myself up for the offer."

Viox shook her head at Keri, "you're a piece of work, you know that? You come in with half a brain and a Scyther, and probably could have taken over the organization by now. That fire that happened... whoever did that needs to be shot."

Silvers mouth twitched, but he kept it shut. Viox raised her eyebrows at him, but didn't say anything. Keri took a drink from Silvers water bottle and sighed, staring at the fire, "I miss my parents. My father was a trainer for a few years, had a handful of badges and Pokemon. My mom did a voice for a radio show in Johto and studied mythology. They taught me everything about training, told me to stay safe, and look where I end up? I doubt they'd approve of anything I've done."

Silver nudged her arm, "It's not that bad, I mean, there's me."

"Yeah, that would have gone over well," she put on a sarcastic grin, "hey mom, this is the boy I was supposed to be tracking, and I was supposed to take out his Pokemon so that Team Rocket could capture him. Instead I decided I loved him, and he hasn't been here for the last six years because he had to join Team Rocket to keep us safe. Oh hey dad, yeah, this is him. Please don't kill him with the baseball bat, really, it's okay, no, I will not let you have Scyther back for a second," she laughed. "Yep, that would go over really well. With luck you might have gotten out with only a couple broken bones."

"And the fact that I'm Giovanni's son, that would have made any family get togethers less than pleasant. Most trainers aren't exactly fond of him... at all," he leaned back against his hands, thinking.

Viox yawned, looking at a watch around her wrist, "I'm going to go to sleep."

Keri nodded, "I'll have Grant take the next watch, you okay with morning?"

"Yeah, whatever. You're the boss. If you two are going to go make out or something though, there's another cave out on the other side." She stood and took a few steps over to her tent, disappearing beneath the dark blue canvas.

It was quiet for a few minutes, Keri leaned against Silver, listening to the water drip in the cave. He sat up, and wrapped an arm around her. "You know..." he started, staring up at the ceiling of the cave.

Keri turned to look at him, "know what?"

"I don't know... that family get together thing. It would have been an awkward wedding," he said slowly.

Keri was quiet for a minute as she curled up closer to him, then, "it could always still be an awkward wedding. Your family sounds like it has it's problems, and I'm positive that my parents friends and that one psychotic aunt I have would be more than pleased to make it extremely uncomfortable... We would have to tell the priest to leave out that bit about objections."

Silver chuckled, and ran a hand through her hair, "you put it that way, it would probably just be better to have Mr. Briney take us out to sea and have him marry us."

Keri wrinkled up her nose, "ew no. Sorry Silver, but I don't think we'd ever actually get married. He'd never stop talking. What if we just invited our friends, your dad and aunt, my aunt, and had it... I don't know. Somewhere that isn't crazy?"

"Someplace that isn't crazy is a tall order. I bet we could find a place that's only a little crazy though. Floroma Town in Sinnoh is nice."

"I always liked Snowpoint City, it's freezing out there though."

"Blackthorn in Johto, although there's some people there who don't exactly like me."

"Heh, why don't we just break into the League building on an off day, and have it in the middle of the arena. It would be fitting," she snickered.

"Sure. We could all wear black masks along with the dresses and tuxedos. Then we'll steal the tapes from the control room and have the reception in the meeting room," he said, and they both began to laugh. Suddenly Silver stopped, and looked her in the eye, "do you really want it in the League building? Because I know the Elite four, and the Champion. I could get permission for that, and it would be private."

She stared at him, shocked, for a second, "I..." she started, just staring at him. Finally she managed to find her voice. "Are you serious? Even after... everything? I mean, I know you had to do some stuff..."

He smirked, "Most of them will have heard of you and will probably be pretty surprised, but after I explain everything... Lets just say that I have very understanding friends," he murmured, leaning over to grab a stick and poke at the fire. "I mean, we're talking about people who found out I was Giovanni's son, and didn't care, at all. Heh, I can't wait until they meet you." He curled his arms around her, resting his chin in her hair.

"That sounds wonderful, lets just get a whole room of people who hate Team Rocket together to meet me, I'm sure they'll be thrilled to learn that I made up half the training program and have an almost-perfect record. I never screwed up a mission." She leaned back against his chest, eyes closed, "I'm sure they'll be completely thrilled."

"You understand that I'll probably stab anyone who says anything, right?"

Keri opened her eyes and rolled them at him, "wonderful... You still carry around the same knife?"

Silver sighed, "no. It broke, turns out that you shouldn't leave things where trainees can get them."

"First person you trained, right?"

"Snapped it in two thinking he could pry the lid to a steel box open. He's probably not going to get very far, unless he's already dead. Sadly, that's something I can say about most of the people I trained," he muttered.

"Right, about you training, what was that; your conversation with Giovanni in the gym?" She asked, sitting up and looking at him.

Silver shrugged, sighing, "that was about Anya. I trained her about three months after... you know. Anyway, she's the kind that attracts trouble, and then goes looking for more. She should be around nineteen now, I'm not entirely sure, but she's the only one I actually enjoyed training at all. Mostly because she didn't act like an idiot, and she got people I didn't like in trouble. A lot of trouble... she had a habit of carrying around a tape recorder."

Keri grinned, "yep, that would definitely get people in trouble... Of course, the downside is that it could get you killed."

Silver nodded, "yeah. Almost. About three years after training her, we were put in a team together, the two of us and a boy named Matthias. We got into trouble, Matt died, and Anya was hurt, she ended up loosing a lot of blood. The closest thing to a hospital was one of the Labs."

Keri's eyes grew wide, and Silver continued, "My blood type is O, they did a transfusion to keep her alive, but they searched our things. She was constantly hanging out in that old barn during training, the one at the Ruins depot. There was a tape I'd told her to erase in there. I'd told her to erase it and not to even think about it again, but it was in there. She'd kept it on her for four years, god knows why. No one knows half the stuff that goes on in the Labs, I doubt that even my father keeps track, but he's probably the only reason I'm alive right now. Anya too. Before we got out they did do some things though. Both of us can see in the dark, sometimes I think I see things I shouldn't... They mostly worked on her though. I don't know what they did, but she had to go through training again for months, and she threw out her tape recorder. Last I'd heard she was doing missions _for_ the Lab department, but that doesn't really help."

"Sounds... Terrifying."

"Yeah... Terrifying works. It was a tape over some genetic thing, most of the lab stuff revolves around genetics I think. It doesn't matter though, it won't change anything... I hope that kid is okay, she didn't deserve what she got," he sighed.

"Neither did you," Keri said, leaning against him again.

"Yes I did. It was my fault she got hurt in the first place. A stupid mistake, something I should have known better than to do, and it almost got her killed."

Keri leaned away from him and glared, then snarled, "everyone makes mistakes. Silver, I don't get the whole self destructive thing. You take the blame for things that you couldn't even control, and then spend and enormous amount of time trying to figure out how you could have stopped it from happening, when you couldn't have."

He just shook his head... "You didn't hear her scream... Keri, three days destroyed everything that girl was. And I was supposed to be in charge of her."

Keri was silent for a while, just staring at the fire, then she finally sighed, "where were you?"

"In the ice fields north of Blackthorn. We were supposed to be gathering information from a Ranger Facility there. We got lost and stuck in a snowstorm, and were looking for shelter. We fell off a cliff..."

She shook her head, "the ice fields are completely unpredictable. They only send people out there because they want them dead. So who sent you on a suicide mission?"

"I wasn't sent. I volunteered to go, like Giovanni said. I knew why they were sending her out there... You don't go into the ice fields to complete missions, you go either to die, or to escape. I was thinking that I could get them north to Sinnoh... We were going to go to the Ranger Base and get information about the land, even though it was crazy to try going through that place in winter... I was crazy though, so I suppose the plan fit."

"Crazier. If you haven't noticed..." Keri muttered with a yawn as she leaned against his chest again.

"Why am I crazier?" He asked, looking at her in confusion.

"Any sane man would have left after that night on the boat," she muttered, curling against him, listening to his heartbeat. Feeling his arms around her, something she knew she would never take for granted. She couldn't.

"No, just a stupid one," he mumbled, petting her hair... "How long did it take to grow your hair out again?" he wondered out loud. He waited for her to answer, but after a minute he realized that she'd fallen asleep. He gently laid her down in his lap with a sigh.

He was half asleep when a voice startled him awake,"that's adorable."

He looked up at Grant, then made an effort to just ignore his presence. After a few minutes he gave up with a sigh, "what do you want? I thought you were asleep."

"I was, now I'm not. I was just making an observation, and thinking about how safe the water in this place is for drinking... it's probably almost time for my shift anyway."

"There are purification tablets in the backpacks. If you want tea or something I'm sure the water is fine. It can't be less healthy than asking a Pokemon to fill your cup. And I can tell you're lying," he growled.

Grant smirked, "just like Giovanni. You got me, what I want to know is how you managed to just stand by for six years and practically ignore every girl that batted her eyes at you. I mean, Keri is pretty, don't get me wrong, but how on earth did you do that? And you barely know her."

Silver ignored the urge to smack him and instead took a deep breath, and released it very slowly. "Honestly? I was so crazy half the time that I barely noticed anything at all. I did what they told me, and when I wasn't doing that I was trying to figure out where she could have gone, what I was going to do when I got out. If she would even want me anymore. I didn't _do it_, Grant, I was just constantly loosing my mind. She was out there, with my child, and there was absolutely nothing I could do to help them. I couldn't even talk to her. I learned a lot about her while I was there, but that just made everything worse."

Grant flinched, "you probably want to hit me."

"Since my knife is in my backpack, and it's conveniently far enough away that if I tried to get it, I would wake up Keri, yes. I only want to hit you."

"You understand that technically you're my boss right? Keri's too." He said as he dug through his own pack, looking for a bottle of water. "I know you don't like your dad, I know you completely hate Team Rocket, even though we have our charms, but Team Rocket _is_ basically a dictatorship. And you're the son of the King," he paused as Silvers mouth twitched, but he held up a hand, hoping that he could get what he wanted to say in. After a second, Silver nodded and he continued, "I don't like it, for years I thought I was eventually going to be in charge, but I don't have what it takes, hardly anyone does. You do, it's in your blood. You're smart enough, fast enough, have enough stamina and determination, the devotion, and you know when it's time to pull back. I don't. Hell, I barely have any self control compared to you," he paused for a minute.

"I'm not going to do it. My father has tried to convince me a thousand times, and I'm not doing it. I thought he'd learned that the little speeches just made him that much more annoying," Silver growled. "I don't want the power, I just want to live with Keri and Sterling, and have a life and family. He should have known better than to-"

Grant shook his head, "no, no your dad didn't put me up to this, I swear. Giovanni is just worried, honestly. He keeps trying to find someone, anyone who could take over team Rocket, but he can't. Your dad has terrorized people, burned down buildings, stolen blueprints, he has some of the most powerful companies in the palm of his hand, but he can't find someone to take his place... but that's not really what I want to talk about, see every night, I swear to God, the man sits down and stares at a picture of your mom holding you. For like, an hour. An hour he could spend making plans, or spend training, or spend doing any other damn thing on the planet, and he spends it staring at the damn picture. For years he's been doing this. And if you ever tell the old man I said this, I'll deny it to your face, although you'll both know I'm lying, but I think he just wants a family. I think he just wants to be able to come and visit and act like everything is okay. He's great with business, he can kill someone in two seconds without even thinking about it, he knows exactly how to get what he wants when he wants it, but he has absolutely no clue how to talk to you. Like you're his son. Instead of, you know, this annoying brat who keeps trying to destroy pretty much his whole life."

"Nice. I'm not entirely sure if you were trying to convince me to just join up with him, or let him plan my birthday party."

Grant rolled his eyes, "look, just think about it. Not joining up, but yeah. Let him plan you a birthday party, or whatever the hell he wants. Maybe you could all enjoy a picnic on a mountain somewhere, I don't know, I don't care. I just keep thinking about the fact that I'm going to be a father in a few months, and how much it would kill me if my kid hated me. Giovanni can hide his emotions, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have them. You know how psycho you went when you had to leave Keri? You weren't there after your mom died, hell, _no one_ knew where you were. I was seventeen, I didn't really get it then, but now I do.

"Giovanni completely lost it. He wouldn't leave his house for days, and when he did, he went out training. He nearly killed himself at least a hundred times. He'd make up bizarre missions, and actually had us attack the International Police. After your aunt stepped in things got better, she certainly got his head in the right place, and she figured out where you were and told him you were alive. So there's a thousand things you can say about him, but don't ever think that man doesn't love you, okay? Because he does, he just has no freaking idea how to show it. And he does a pretty shitty job when he tries."

Silver sighed, "yeah. He does. Look Grant, this is nice and all, but..." He trailed off, and looked down as he picked at his fingers.

Grant shook his head, "you need to let it go. You want someone to blame for that, and you know she made the choice herself. I babysat you for two years, I know what happened. She didn't want you to watch her die, and she was going to die, quickly and in a lot more pain than what she did."

Silver glared at him, "I'm going to bed. Wake Viox up for her watch in a few hours."

"Yes sir," Grant muttered under his breath.

XOX

So I was going to write more. And then I decided I'd dragged this out long enough.

I want Silver and Keri to actually get married, but I have no flipping idea where or how to write it. Let alone the fact I've only ever been to one wedding that I can remember, and it wasn't really... typical. And this isn't really something I can ask my mom to help me with, cause she doesn't know this story exists. With good reason.

So... Yeah, Grant is right around thirty years old, and has been hanging out with Giovanni since he was fourteen. Yes, he babysat Silver. Weird, I know. I have failed to bring up this little fact, not only because Silver doesn't remember or really care, but because Grant hates to admit that Silver managed to cause trouble for him more than a few times.

And yes. Viox forced Michael into self defense and a few different martial arts. She had to be a little more persuasive about teaching him to shoot, and couldn't get him to carry a gun at all. Ultimately, the fact that Viox carries around a gun all the time will probably get her in trouble someday.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"You're a mess kid."

Michael shook his head, glaring at Jack. "Yeah, but alive, no thanks to you. Oh yeah, Jason says you're an asshole, which, honestly, if far better than what I want to tell you."

"Mrs. Winter says you took four bullets. Oh, and I saw that guy you killed." Jack leaned against the wall of the 'basement'.

Michael grimaced, "oh great. Going to tell me 'welcome to the club?'"

"No. I'm going to tell you that you'll never get over it. I'm going to tell you that every time I've killed someone, it's hurt, like hell. And if it doesn't, you aren't fit to be called human. You don't have to admit it, or talk about how it makes you sick, actually I'd rather you didn't. Killing people is wrong, sometimes we have to, sometimes it's our job. Just remember that you're human. Also, nice shot." He looked around the large room, and let his eyes rest on the two tunnels on the other side of the room. Not a basement, a path somewhere.

"Why is it that you can make me feel even more guilty than I already am? And then somehow manage to give me a compliment that makes me feel even worse?" Michael glared at him.

"Michael, this is your conscious speaking, it says that hitting someone in the head is far better than hitting them in the stomach, which would be a slow and painful way to die." Jack whispered loudly.

"Oh shut up. How many people have you killed? If it makes you feel like this every time then why the hell do you do it?"

Jack sighed, and sat down on the floor, "the happy fun time part of this conversation is now over. Please hold all sarcastic remarks."

"How the hell was that 'happy fun time'? Because it felt like 'lets make Michael feel shitty time,'" he growled.

Jack took a slow breath, "thirty-seven. Exactly. I hunted them down, and killed them, because it was my job. And because I believed that I was doing the right thing, killing Rockets. And I knew exactly what I was doing. I murdered people, Michael, okay? Four times, in cold blood. Then someone saved my life, because it was the right thing to do, a member of Team Rocket, someone I was supposed to kill. I'm not proud of myself, I'd convinced myself I was destroying a disease, not people with lives and families. And then this idiot threw me a rope and told me to climb up, and even gave me back my gun. I never killed someone outside of self defense again. Team Rocket itself is bad, but it has good people. Good people who do stupid and horrible things. And I can't really figure out what I'm supposed to do with that logic, so it's just bouncing around my head driving me crazy... Maybe it's bad people who sometimes do good things..."

Michael took a deep breath, and suddenly began coughing. After a few seconds he caught his breath and cleared his throat, "you... just killed people?"

Jack nodded, "yeah. Shot them where it would kill them quickly. I made myself buy some bullshit logic I'd created. Sort of went crazy, sort of am, still. Truth is, looking back, every single one of them was like ripping a piece of myself away. Scary thing is, I know I could and would do it again if I had to."

"Something is very wrong with you, but I guess you already know that. You and... Wait, Jack, where's Hannah?" Michael asked, looking around. As if the Dragonite might be hiding in one of the tunnels, or in a dark corner somewhere.

"She's with Grant, Silver, Keri, and Viox." Jack scratched the back of his neck as he mumbled this.

"Why?"

"Because Nintales is going to fix some things, but each one of us needs to be in the right place," Jack said, breathing out quickly. "You know the whole thing between me and Hannah Isn't really natural, that the Nintales put it together, right?"

Michael frowned, "like what? You told me about it before, what is he going to fix?"

Jack looked away, as if he were thinking... he suddenly stood up and began pacing. "Okay kid... I hate telling you this, but the message has been getting stronger. There's two people here that are bound besides me. You know Jason, Mrs. Winter told me about that. There's someone else I don't know, and will probably never actually meet. Jason's problem is that they share the same body, that their consciousness is joined both physically... and... well, whatever. You'll get it eventually. It doesn't make sense with words. The other was created in the same way as Jason, but without the side effect of one of them being trapped. As far as I know, she's the only girl. Nintales is going to help her, with something, but it's not my job to know what that is. My job is to tell you what you need to know."

Michael blinked slowly, trying to figure out what he was saying. "So... This Pokemon is coming here to fix these... connections? Because..." Michael looked down, thinking, then suddenly looked at Jack, eyes boring into his, "you said I'll get it eventually."

Jack ran a hand through his hair, stopped pacing and sat down again, fidgety. "Yeah, cause you're next. I don't know who was the first, or how many others there are, but you're the last one. Which means you're special. I don't know how you're special, or why you're the last one, but it's something Hannah feels, and I feel, and we both have to be in different places for whatever is going to happen."

"The only Pokemon I have is Linoon."

"Yeah, I didn't own Hannah when we were bound... Never have owned or actually captured her, she stays in a Pokeball of her own free will. Shadow was something of an anomaly, since Jason went through a surgery to test a new way to fight some strain of cancer. He's the only one who survived," Jack paused, looking thoughtful for a minute, "I don't know anything about this girl, but it's probably something similar."

"Jack..." Michael frowned, moving over to lock on his eyes, "you're not telling me something."

He grimaced, "you'll just have more questions than you do now, and I don't know the answers. I don't even really know what it is."

"Tell me anyway." Michael growled. A second later he took a sharp breath and wrapped an arm around himself, biting his lip.

"You're hurt a lot worse than you let on, aren't you?" Jack said, squinting at him, as if he could see what was wrong through the blanket.

Michael glared at him for a second, then just let his face slide into a pained grimace, "no duh Sherlock. My whole body hurts like hell. I'm pretty sure there's internal damage, and it's probably going to kill me."

"So why haven't you passed out from pain yet?"

"Because every other time I take a drink of water, it's with a handful of painkillers. I'm loopy enough that I'm willing to believe this little conversation we're having here."

Jack threw off the small backpack he'd packed and dug through it furiously for a few seconds, and pulled out a small jar. He frowned at Michael, then grabbed his half full water bottle and dumped in at least three tablespoons. He shook up the bottle for a minute, then handed it to Michael. "Drink it all, as fast as you can. And yes, it is completely and totally illegal for me to own it, but it will help you out some. You won't die at least... not from your injuries."

Michael took a sniff of it, made a face, then drank it all down, wincing. He coughed a little, "what the hell was that stuff?"

Jack flushed red, "Dragonite scales, powdered. They don't come off very often, so when she looses them she makes me powder and keep them. In case I get mauled or something," he shrugged.

"Wonderful. I just ate Dragonite. Although I do already feel a little better... what are the side effects?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"The fact that if you ever tell anyone I will hunt you down and kill you in cold blood. More than Team Rocket would start killing Dragonite, for the scales, and they would catch, breed, and train Dratini and Dragonair. Then kill them once they had evolved," he said, keeping his eyes locked on Michael's. After a few seconds his face softened though, "Oh, and you're going to throw up everything in your stomach for a couple days. I don't know how it works, but after we're all fixed up it stops agreeing with our systems, and we expel it the fastest way possible. You'll probably loose some weight, although your vision will be somewhat improved for a few weeks."

"Just like the miracle drugs on TV. Well, there's no way I'm ever working in a hospital again. It would be hell, knowing that just a little of that stuff could help... he sighed and laid down on the floor. "Damn I'm tired."

"Oh yeah, and when you're not throwing up you'll probably be asleep or eating. Forgot to mention that," Jack said.

Michael glared at him. "I wake up after two days just to fall asleep for another... some... number... who cares," he yawned.

Jack just shook his head, "you're a mess kid... And I don't know how Silver, Keri, Grant, and Viox are involved... other than for Sterling and Emily..." he paused, then began climbing up the stairs to talk to Mrs. Winter. She was old enough that she would remember the remedy of Dragonite Scales... he didn't envy Michael, at all. He was in for one hell of a week. On the plus side though, he would be alive. He had to be alive... At the top of the stairs he paused, "_Hannah?_"

"_Hi Jack. We're almost through the ice wall. I have Ethan's... uhh... Parental figures... Safe? This is weirder than you and me._"

"_Yeah. I got here and Michael was hurt really bad. I gave him some powder._"

He could almost see the face she was probably making, "_poor kid... well, it's better than dying. His bound will be happy. Not like we have any idea what the hell he's being bound to. It's still all fuzzy._"

"_That Pokemon hasn't told us hardly anything for years, and now he wants us to tell Michael that he's going to be bound and to somehow explain it. I don't get it._"

Hannah sighed, "_Nintales isn't what we think he is, we just have to do what he says. He's never harmed us before, and won't harm us or them now._"

"_I know. It's just frustrating. And Hess..._"

"_Leave Hess to himself. You know what's going to happen to _him_. Besides, you've torn yourself up enough just talking, you don't need to go making plans. Relax, eat something, play a card game with the old lady._"

"_Thanks Hannah. First though, there's some things I need to tell you about the children._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Keri panted, letting her arms swing down, and leaving them there. Everyone was exhausted... "Okay, Hannah, could you try Flamethrower again?" She asked as she backed away from the huge chunk of ice. She could tell that they were almost though it, but they needed just a little more...

The Dragon nodded, opened her jaws, and a huge blast of fire exploded into the ice, visibly melting it. She kept it up as long as she could, and a hole formed in the ice. Hannah snapped her jaw shut and examined the hole... and jumped back startled. A young woman stood in the newly made frame, frowning. She ran a hand through her short hair and glared at the three people and the Pokemon... "what's going on here? Nice job on the ice..." she folded her arms, looking far less than serious in her thick blue coat.

Keri took a deep breath and stepped forward, "Keri Fletcher. Current leader of this mission. Who are you?"

The girl rolled her eyes, "yeah right. Keri is retired. Who are you really?"

"Hey Keri, there's a Camerupt, although the thing's crazy mad... we could probably catch it if we have any-" Silver stopped abruptly as a flash of blue bowled into him, squealing.

"Big Brother!"

Silver growled, making a futile effort to pry the girls arms off and sit up, "Anya! What the hell are you doing here? And I've told you not to call me that!"

"There's this kid that escaped from the lab, I'm supposed to be getting him, but I'm just going to make it harder for them to find him. They're trying to make some sort of organic computer out of the poor guy, he's terrified..." she grinned and hugged him tighter. "Gizmo got captured and I can't just break into the castle alone, even-"

"You have three seconds to get off of him before I shoot you. In the head. And I never miss," Keri snarled.

Anya suddenly grew pale, and stood straight up, at perfect attention. "I'm so sorry..."

Silver sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He carefully stood, avoiding Keri's glare. "Anya, Keri. Keri, your second biggest fan. Please don't kill her, I spent an enormous amount of time and blood trying to keep her alive. And I swear on my life that there is absolutely nothing between me and Anya. Like that. Anya, what did you screw up this time? You're never this happy to see me unless you have a problem I need to fix. And what did you do to your hair?"

The girl frowned, and hung her head, "I sent in Gizmo alone, he's my bound, like that Dragonite is with her partner. I didn't think there would be a problem, but there isn't electricity in all of the rooms. He was captured by another Pokemon, and I can't connect with him. He won't let me. We have the entire Shiver Camp searching for us, because I let him cause some trouble. I've been holed up in this cave for a few days now, trying to figure out what to do," she muttered, then she glanced up at him, with a slight smirk on her face. "I got pink streaks in my hair."

Silvers face twitched... "I should make you shave it off. That would be extremely impractical in this weather though. Your leg?"

"They sort of rebuilt it. It malfunctions sometimes, but I can run well enough now... It's acting up in this weather though, and without Gizmo to help..." she turned to look at everyone else.

Keri took a deep breath and let go of the gun she had just put back into her belt. "So you're that kid... he trained. What was that you said about Hannah?" She pointed at the Dragonite.

"She's bound to someone, like Gizmo is bound to me. Except her binding is different. More... pure? I don't know. It's complicated. So you're really Keri?" She seemed uncomfortable.

Keri smiled, trying to relax, "yeah. The two you don't know are Grant and Viox. The reason we're here is close to the same you are. Three children were kidnapped," she stopped talking for a second, letting the smile fall from her face. She cleared her throat and remained composed with a little difficulty. "Viox's child, Emily, a boy named Ethan, and our... daughter. Sterling... Since we're going in the same direction, you should probably join us."

Anya stared, wide eyed, at Keri. Then she turned to Silver, and backed up a step. Grant moved back against the wall, and Viox just glared at her from next to Hannah. She opened her mouth, then slowly shut it. Silver shook his head at her, "just come with us, okay? _Before_ you get yourself killed."

Anya nodded with a sigh, "yeah. Good idea. I've got a camp set up in the clearing just outside the cave, it's actually getting pretty late out here. You're not going to want to be out there at night. A bunch of people from the castle took over that old research area, and they've been patrolling every night. Sparks can't even fly over the fields with his camera anymore, they shot at him. They weren't smart enough to follow him though, even though it's weird to see a Swellow out here. I would have brought Alteria, but this jerk back at the Ruins snapped her wing."

"You do understand that they're probably trying to kill you again," Silver said as they made their way through the cave.

"Yeah. They do that a lot. I'm proving to be very hard to kill."

Keri led the way, listening. Anya acted a lot younger than she looked, and Keri could hear her limping. "So you're involved with the lab work?"

Anya grimaced, "yeah. Sort of. I'm mostly just a pain in their butt. Giovanni put them in charge of me because I needed a new leg, but also because it's their fault I'm so messed up. And he sends people to check up on me every week, to make sure they aren't doing anything to me," she glanced at Silver, "I do a mission once in a while, I'm still better than most of the grunts, but that's because I keep training."

Silver smiled, looking at the wall of the cave. Keri glanced at him, then rolled her eyes. "Silver is proud of you, I think. I guess I'll let you live," she smirked.

Silver caught himself before he openly whined to Keri about the comment. Anya just grinned, "you don't kill people though. You've shot people, you've hurt them, but you almost never kill."

"Yippie. Can you all just shut up? I've got a headache. I don't exactly feel like listening to Keri dictionary right now," Viox growled. Grant just snickered and shook his head.

Anya glanced back at her, then leaned in towards Keri and whispered, "what's her problem?"

"Same as mine, she just deals with it differently. You get used to it," Keri muttered.

"Shut _up_," Viox snarled.

Keri yawned, "if there's as many prisoners out there as she said, we really should be quiet. Everyone be as silent as possible until I give the all clear. If you have something important to say, do it quietly."

Hannah began to snicker, until she received a glare from Viox. The dragon rolled her eyes with a sigh and kept walking at the end of the line, listening carefully for anything abnormal.

.~.~.~.~.~

"Okay... so you're trapped by a bunch of Pokemon, and all of yours are too weak to battle, and you can't run anymore. What do you do?"

Sterling frowned, scraping at the ice with a stick, "that depends on where I am. And why they're mad at me. And what items I have."

Jason swore under his breath. "Okay okay okay... You're surrounded by a horde of angry bug Pokemon, you can't use your Pokemon, and the only thing you have is an escape rope. You're too tired to run anymore, _now_ what do you do?"

"Probably scream for help. I don't have very many options, and an escape rope isn't going to help me against bugs. Especially if there are Scyther. They would catch me and probably kill me. And I can still hear you say those words," she muttered.

"You're a little dark."

"We're being chased by a bunch of people with guns. And you're asking me to figure out impossible situations with solutions that would only work in cartoons."

"Touche. You have a pretty good vocabulary for a six year old."

Sterling glared at him, threw down the stick, and watched it skid across the ice. "I guess. The only reason we haven't been found yet is because they don't think the ice will hold their weight."

"You need to worry less," Jason said, sticking his tongue out.

"Michael is hurt really bad, or dead, because we thought that we wouldn't be found. We're out here alone. Further east, we end up in the ocean. North, South, and West, we're dead. I think _you_ need to worry _more_." She growled, glaring over at the stick. She wished she could hit him with it.

"You don't act six," Jason started. "Actually, you're much calmer than most people would be. Most people would be completely freaking out."

"Freaking out won't do anything but make it worse. I want to scream and cry and hit you, but that would just make everything worse. So I'm not going to. I'm just going to sit here and listen to your stupid little games."

Jason almost flinched at the bitterness in her voice. A little kid shouldn't sound like that... "I'm sorry. I can't think of anything to do, neither can shadow, and we're pretty much stuck here until someone rescues us. I figured it would at least be entertaining."

Sterling sighed, then stood up and skated across the ice to her stick, picked it up, and skidded back to Jason. "Try making them a little easier. And stop making me too tired to run."

Jason smirked, "okay then. Right... you're in a forest, and you made some bug Pokemon mad. You have a rope, and your Pokemon, who are tired from training. What do you do to get away from the bugs?"

"Bonsly is fast, but she can't really take out too many Pokemon without getting tired... That leaves Sneasel... Oh!" Sterling stared at Jason for a second, "I promised I'd let Sneasel go once he was healed up... Do you have his pokeball?"

Jason dug in his pocket for a few seconds and pulled out a handful of pokeballs. He smiled at them... they weren't all hers, but he had to admit that the way she handled them they very well could be. He pulled a ball out of the small pile and handed the rest to Sterling. "I thought they might come in handy, especially Pepper, although lighting a fire right now would probably get us killed, one way or another."

Sterling smiled and carefully put all of the Pokeballs but one in her pocket. She threw it out, her smile receding. "Hey Sneasel."

It glared at her, back turned as it took a moment to clean it's claws. She sighed, "since you're better, you can go ahead and leave."

It looked at her, uttered a short "sel" and went back to cleaning it's claws, and grooming the fur on it's face.

Sterling set the pokeball on the ground beside him, and leaned back. The ice was cold, and she quickly sat up again, "just watch out while you're leaving. There's people out there who are trying to find me. I hear gunshots sometimes, I think they may be shooting at wild Pokemon."

Sterling watched it's ears flatten, just for a second, then it turned around, crouching and staring at her. It seemed to think for a moment, then it grabbed the pokeball and ran off across the ice.

Jason whistled, "there's one conflicted Pokemon. And it's going the wrong way. It's probably up to something though... You know Pokemon in this region count on not being able to be captured? Of course it's fine in an emergency, or if the Pokemon decides to stay with you and you're going to a different region. That's the first Pokemon you've ever captured, right?"

Sterling curled her arms around her legs, "yeah. Sort of. By myself really. Michael wasn't very helpful."

Jason smirked, "yeah, well, he's not really the battling type. You know, I think Michael is really going to be okay. He's like jello, it's not very strong, or exactly helpful most of the time, but no matter what you do to it, well, you can't really destroy it, can you? Unless you eat it."

"That doesn't make any sense at all," Sterling stated, matter of factually.

"Okay, what if I told you I could guarantee that he was safe? Or at least was going to live for a few more years?"

"I'd ask you what it was," she said dryly, frowning at him.

Jason sighed, fiddling with the pokeball in his hand. "Okay, well, you understand what I told you about being bound, right?"

Sterling nodded, and Jason continued, "right, well I can one hundred percent guarantee that Michael is going to live though this... sort of. See, I told you about the Nintales, seeing him when I was dying and what he said... Well, Michael is going to die, and be bound, like I was, like Jack and probably several other people, were. And he's going to live because of it. We don't really know what's going to happen though, only that Michael is the last. We all know about it. He's not going to die just because some creeps beat up on him."

Sterling frowned, going over this information. After a few minutes she spoke, "it sounds like a fairy tale. Like some story someone wrote up for a little kid."

Jason shrugged, "you are a little kid. I thought all little kids believed in fairy tales."

"Only because most of them are probably true," Sterling smiled, "Did Nintales tell you?"

He started, looking at her with a startled expression on his face, "how did you figure _that_ out?"

She shrugged at him, "just the way you keep talking about him."

Jason suddenly looked off towards the east, staring for a second, "I think someone is coming. Be ready to run."

Sterling nodded, and they both waited in anticipation as they watched a small black dot grow larger and larger, slowly becoming more detailed and colorful. After twenty minutes of watching, Jason relaxed. "Just some people with a sled and Pokemon."

Sterling kept watching, but felt her heart calm considerably. The person on the sled wasn't dressed the same as those hunting them in the woods. She noticed a Manectric, Arcanine, Gabite, and Piloswine were pulling them. After a few more minutes it stopped a few yards away from them.

Sterling felt a little apprehension at the approaching figure, and stood to meet her, "who are you?"

Madison grinned, holding out a pokeball, "I think this Pokemon is yours, since it pointed us in the right direction... My name is Madison. And I'm guessing that you're Sterling."

Sterling gently took the pokeball out of her gloved hand and held it close. "Maybe."

Jason stood with a sigh, "psychic right? Although that's not how you know that's her."

"Neat trick, ghost type. Although I've never seen one quite as interesting as this."

Jasons mouth twitched, "the chances of it happening ever again are pretty much zero. You told us your name, who are you?"

"I took a boat and a dogsled to meet Silver and Keri up here, out by the castle. I got sidetracked by a Sneasel that seemed entirely unsure of what the hell it was doing. My husband took his sled and went ahead, I came out here to see what the problem was," she glared at Jason.

"Why not-"

"If you say that out loud, I will smack you so hard that that stupid haunter flies right out of the back of your head. You both know that's not how it works."

"Point taken."

Sterling looked between them, "it amazes me that when grown ups yell at each other they like to pretend kids aren't there. I'm cold, can we get on the sled?"

Madison shot a glare at Jason that would have had anything else running in fear. She smiled and looked over to Sterling, "yes, we can get in the sled. I'm sorry."

Sterling walked over to the large sled with them, and curled up in the furs that had been piled inside, "so what do you two have against each other?"

They spoke at the same time, sounded jumbled and very much alike. Jason coughed, and waved a hand after they had stopped, allowing Madison to speak, "I don't really like ghost types, they mess with me. I have some psychic ability, so it's hard to focus with them around."

She motioned to Jason, "she's not just a _little_ psychic, trust me on that. She may not be able to utilize it, but holey crap she's got it radiating from her like... I don't know. Anyway, you have every psychic give you odd looks for years, and they won't let you help them... well, lets just say I'm tired of the prejudice."

"Well, you have to get along, because if you don't I'm going to _scream_ until you both apologize to each other. And I have a lot of reasons to scream right now." Sterling said, leaning back and glaring at both of them.

"We can't exactly say no to something like that, can we?" Jason muttered.

Madison nodded, "Just don't ever try to pull that on your father."

Sterling smiled, curling under blankets, still holding the pokeball, "thanks for bringing Sneasel back."

Madison just nodded, and whistled for the Pokemon to hurry up as a steady snow began to fall.

XOX

Michael... You know, I wasn't originally going to do very much with Michael. I _didn't_ do very much with Michael at first really. Then I decided that I liked him, more, and decided to make his life hell. Because when I decide I really like a character, I seem to do just plain awful things to them. So about halfway through Silvers Kiss, while I was thinking this up, I decided that along with Jack and Jason, I was going to include him in that little mess. Sadly I couldn't think up a better word for Binding, but you work with what you have. Anya... well, she came up after I had started this, but I decided that it was pretty important for her to be here.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Silver exhaled sharply, watching his breath spiral upward as he strode towards the fire. The sky was filled with clouds, and snow was whipping across the tops of the cliffs. He could hear the wind howling above them, but it didn't touch them down here, nestled between two of the cliffs, all they got was some steady snow. He cleared the log of snow and sat down. "Anything new?"

Anya smiled, "tried dating, although it didn't go so well. One of them was killed by an admin who went crazy. That was nice and heartbreaking," she smirked at him, and glanced up at the sky. "I haven't really gotten any new abilities. I think I've finally stabilized. The leg is interesting though, it connects to my remaining nerves or something. They taught me how to put it on and take it off. It's almost like I can feel it. What's left of my real leg hurts like hell sometimes though. Can you still see in the dark?"

"Yeah, not as well as before though. I'm hoping it's just fading. Maybe it will be gone in a couple years."

Anya shook her head, "it's just restabilizing. It takes a couple months without the shots. Honestly, I didn't really think I'd ever see you again."

Silver shrugged, "you know there's something more going on here than what we can really see." It was a statement, aimed directly at her.

She nodded slowly, "yeah. There's another kid in that castle, that I could feel before Gizmo cut me off. He's... I don't know."

Silver sighed, placing his elbows on his knees and twisting his fingers in his hair. After a few minutes, he slowly let go and just frowned down at the ground.

"You know, maybe you should talk to Keri about that."

He looked up at her with a smirk, "yeah. I should."

Anya nodded, and rubbed her hands in front of her near the fire, trying to get them a little warmer, "I bet your life sucks right now."

He rolled his eyes, "_no_, it's completely awesome. I love sitting in the freezing cold and going to prisons full of people who hate and want to kill me. Not to mention the rest of the situation."

"Well, you get to see Keri in her uniform, she looks really pretty in it."

"Pretty is a disgustingly huge understatement, and I demand that you take it back right now."

Anya opened her mouth, then shut it and pointed behind him, grinning. He turned and saw Keri standing just outside the tent. He frowned... "I didn't want to wake you."

Keri shrugged and walked through the snow, creating another set of footprints, and sat next to him. "I'm having a bad time sleeping anyway. What's another three hours on watch? So if not pretty, how would you describe me?"

Silver looked at her carefully, frowning seriously... "You know how you see a sunrise, and sometimes they make you cry?"

Keri stared at him, "how do you even remember that? Wait..."

Silver shrugged. "It was a couple days after I yelled at you, and we ended up spending the night out in the woods. So when you randomly got up and left I followed you. So then every night you got up and left I followed you. Never got very close though. Not close enough to see very much of what you were doing until the sun came up."

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Why do you think?" He muttered. "I didn't think it was a good idea to tell you I was stalking you every night."

Keri sighed, "half those times I was sending in reports you know."

Silver shrugged, "I honestly don't care," he murmured as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

Anya just watched... the way they looked at each other was breathtaking. She shook he head quickly, "so, the one mission you fail, huh?"

Silver smirked, "under strict technicalities, she didn't actually fail it."

Keri rolled her eyes, "yeah, I completely threw it in the toilet. And broke every single rule I had ever set for myself in one fell swoop. You couldn't have fixed it with duct tape and superglue."

Silver unwrapped his arms, and let his hands rest on her shoulders. He just stared at her for a second, then leaned in and whispered in her ear. For a second her eyes grew wide, and she flushed bright red, "Silver!"

He grinned wickedly at her, "what?"

Anya promptly stood up and frowned at them... "I think I'm going to bed," she said slowly, and backed up a couple steps, then turned and ducked into her tent.

Keri frowned at him, "she heard what you said, didn't she?"

"Oops," he mumbled, not really meaning it.

"Well, it's a great idea, except we're stuck in the snow, and are the only ones here who could organize anything at all if we were attacked."

Silver yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, well, I was _mostly_ kidding," he said, with a drawn out emphasis on 'mostly.'

Keri's eyed gleamed for a second, "oh only _mostly_? What about the rest of that, that isn't _mostly_?" She pressed up against him, smiling barely an inch away from his face.

"The part that isn't mostly," he murmured, "is what I'm going to do to you once we get home."

"I might have to-"

"GO TO BED. MR. BRINEY WAS RIGHT!"

Keri winced and Silver glared as Grant shoved his head out of his tent. "I'll take the next shift, but for the love of God just _stop it_! Every night, you act like this! That or you're completely withdrawn. Just-"

"Why don't you shut up?" Viox looked out from her tent over at him. "There's no reason to scream, you freaking moron. You just woke me up."

Anya crawled out of her tent, "Well, now that we're all awake, who wants to toast marshmallows? I have a whole bag, and sticks. No sense in going back to bed when we were all going to get up in a couple hours anyway."

They all stared at her, except Silver, who spent the two minutes picking at his fingernails. Finally he looked up with a sigh, "look, either answer her or go back to bed. She's going to make the marshmallows anyway, whether you join her or not."

"Who eats marshmallows on a mission?" Viox muttered, walking over to the fire and clearing snow from part of a log so she could sit.

Grant shrugged and stood by the fire, glaring at Silver. Silver shrugged, "I don't like marshmallows. Ever since I met her she's been under the impression that if you're going to have a fire, anywhere, for any reason, you need marshmallows. I don't know why. It's somewhat annoying."

Anya ignored this, and handed him a stick anyway. Viox took hers with a sort of confusion, as if she weren't entirely sure what to do with it. Grant stuck his marshmallow in the fire and immediately began burning it to a crisp. Keri smiled and slowly turned it over the fire. Viox glared at her marshmallow as she held it over the fire, as if imagining the look she was giving it was burning it instead of the flames. "Just don't expect me to start singing and telling ghost stories."

"I have a guitar, we could do that if you want." Anya said, absentmindedly.

Keri glanced at her, then at Silver. Silver grimaced... "She never left summer camp. The guitar thing was great when we got stuck in Jubilife though. Those people will eat any kind of entertainment you throw at them."

The entire group looked at him, Anya watched with a smirk on her face. Silver sighed. "I played manager. Stop looking at me."

"You didn't sing?" Grant said sarcastically.

Silver glared at him, "no. I did not sing."

"No, wait, I think I have a video of something on my computer," He said. He ran back to his tent and came out with a black laptop, the letter R in gleaming red in the middle.

Silver just groaned and buried his face in his hands. Keri was between telling Grant to stop, and going over to look at the video. Silver mumbled something unintelligible and Keri glanced between him and the computer. Finally she moved in next to Anya to watch. It was a slightly fuzzy image, but the sound was clear enough. She watched them walk onto the stage, "Silver, is that stubble?"

Anya grinned at her, "We lost all of our supplies to a horde of Beedrill and a mob of drunken teenagers. He couldn't shave. We barely had enough money on us for new tents and sleeping bags. Let alone food."

Keir grinned, Silver wondered if it were possible to die of shame at twenty-five. After a few more seconds, he gave up with a sigh and stood behind Keri and Anya to watch the video. The one where he probably made a complete and total idiot of himself. He knew it would take a few more seconds for the show to actually start... "I'd forgotten about this bar. It was actually a descent place. The only reason I'm up there is because she got me drunk." He considered stealing the laptop and breaking it, but it was Rocket issue. Tough to break. You could throw the thing into a brick wall, and it'd be fine.

Anya stuck her tongue out at him, and then turned back to the video. Keri frowned at him, "I didn't think you drank."

"Yeah, there's a reason for that. It makes it much easier for people to talk me into ridiculous things. Like singing in front of people." He growled.

Keri was about to ask how exactly Anya had managed to get him to drink at all when it actually started. And for five minutes she was completely glued to the screen. She turned to look at Silver, but he wasn't making eye contact. After another minute, of her staring avidly at him, he finally turned to look at her with a sigh. Keri bit her bottom lip for a second, "you are going to sing something to Sterling when we get her back."

Silver frowned... "I wasn't that-"

Grant cut him off, "yes you were. Maybe not the best in the world, but after everyone got over how stupid you looked..." He trailed off at Keri's glare.

Anya nodded, "I've seen this one six times. And I _was_ there. This creepy short dude in a suit asked us to be on some show like, five hundred times. Silver finally threatened to shoot him after the third day he spent following us around. We really weren't _that_ good, I mean, we were singing in frond of drunk people most of the time."

"There are more of these?" Silver asked with a growl, now wondering if Keri would let him borrow her Scyther for a few seconds to destroy the laptop.

"Yeah. And everyone in Team Rocket has seen them. Your dad too. I'm not sure if he was upset that you gave out your name and started singing, or shocked that you can sing at all. How exactly you get him to drink anyway?" Grant asked Anya, turning to her.

"There was a two drink minimum, and after that it was pretty easy, actually. And he only drank for this one. We really needed the cash, and we made some good money doing that for a while. Once we'd purchased enough supplies, saved enough cash, and completed our mission, we disappeared."

"Our mission was to steal some videos from the TV station anyway. So it was just that much easier to get in there." Silver muttered.

"You understand that I'm going to make you sing as often as I possibly can now, right?" Keri said, looking back at the blank computer screen. "And you have to sing Sterling to sleep sometime, you have to." She grabbed his hands and stared at him, "promise, please? She would love it so much."

Silver sighed, then smiled at her, "well, when you put it that way, I suppose I don't have a choice, do I?"

The five jumped as they heard someone clear their throat. Hannah stood, a slight grimace on her face. "I have news." She wasn't looking directly at them, and was incredibly nervous. This was the first time she had spoken out loud to anyone but Jack. She rustled her wings, and looked up at them.

They all stared at her, emotions ranging between mild surprise and complete shock appearing on the faces of the people standing around the computer. She took a deep breath, "first of all, they are all alive." A considerable amount of tension was released, and everyone had calmed down some as he continued, "Emily and Ethan are stuck in the castle. Jack told me, is telling me."

Keri stared at her, waiting, and unsure how to react to Hannah speaking. Silver finally found a voice for the both of them, "where is Sterling?"

"I don't know. Jack says that they tried to escape, that Sterling was the only one who escaped. Michael told him that they ran into each other, and that Sterling caught an Ice type, so that she could cover their tracks. A Ranger named Jason helped them get to Mrs. Winters cabin."

Grant started, staring at her... his little brother. She was saying that his little brother was out here, "are they safe?"

Hannah turned to look up at the sky, then turned back to them, "we don't know. Jack says that Michael was waiting for him, when people from the castle attacked him. He was hurt badly, he could have died. He got back to the cabin in time to make sure that Sterling and Jason got away though. The people who attacked Michael tore up Mrs. Winters place pretty bad, and found all of the supplies that they couldn't get before leaving. They couldn't find Michael, but they're still looking for him and Sterling." She fidgeted from foot to foot. She didn't like being the center of anyone's attention but Jack's.

Keri shuddered, staring at her. After a few moments of silence... "They're trying to kill her, aren't they?" She whispered.

Hannah didn't meet her eyes. She looked down, staring at the snow that had collected around her feet, scratching at it until she got to a layer of frozen earth. She didn't have to answer. Keri trembled for a second, then fell to her knees and began sobbing, her entire body shaking with each breath. Silver got down on his knees and grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her body. She curled against him, sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. Silver looked up at Grant, Viox, and Anya. "Pack everything, we're leaving. Now."

.~.~.~.~.~

Sterling blinked, fuzzy recollection of the day making it's way to the front of her mind. She stared around the boat from the couch that had been bolted to the floor. She sat up, and a little black face looked up at her. It promptly looked away and began to lick a patch of fur on it's arm. Sneasel. Suddenly she heard a light thunk, and looked up. Madison smiled at her. "Coffee. Sorry, it's all I have."

Sterling gazed at her, then looked at the mug. "Thanks," she said, blinking a few more times. "Didn't you go out to meet your husband?"

"Good memory. I did, Jason stayed out with him to wait for your parents, I came back here because someone had to look after you." She sat down on the end of the couch, drinking her own cup of coffee.

Sterling sniffed it, then took a sip. She blinked, and looked back at it. Weird flavor for coffee... "Everyone keeps saying mom and dad are going to show up. What if they don't? What if something happens to them?"

Madison sighed, leaning back against the couch, "you know... you keep thinking like that, and you're going to develop depression issues. I'm not going to lie, it is possible for your parents to run into trouble, get hurt, get locked up somewhere. They could be out there now, fighting for their lives. They're worried sick about you. Silver is so high strung that he could come completely undone at any second. Your mom is trying to be strong, but she was starting to fall apart when they left to go look for you three. Lucky for us, the bad guys don't know that I exist. Me, my husband, this boat, my grandfather, they have no clue we're here, or that we're even connected to you."

Sterling nodded. "That's good."

"You bet it is! When I was younger I would have tied all of em up and shipped them off to Orre. See how they liked that place." Mr. Briney crowed, stepping down the stairs with the help of his cane.

"Good morning Grandpa, coffee?" Madison asked, rolling her eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me! It's true!" He turned to Sterling, "when I was her age, I would sail the world looking for rare Pokemon and training. I was unstoppable on the water. Why, one time I rode on a Wailord after my boat sunk. I'll get some coffee and tell you all about it."

Madison smiled... Her grandpa might be getting a little confused, but his stories were always something to listen to. She turned and watched him pour the coffee into a mug, "after that one, you should tell about the time you helped drag that house back to Pacifilog."

.~.~.~.~.~

Ian stepped into the room, looking at the two sleeping boys. In all honesty, he knew how to get the information he wanted from the boy in just a few minutes. Too bad he was anything but honest. Ian Kane didn't want to share it with Hess, so he made a show of the torture. He watched the boy with brown hair sleeping, and wondered what _his_ story was. That had become a hobby of his, while in prison. "What did you do to get here kid?" He muttered. There hadn't been something he couldn't get from someone. He turned and looked at David, who was awake now, and staring wide eyed at him. Ian let a light smile touch his lips. This child was completely miraculous. Despite all that had been done to him, he was still fighting. People with everything to loose had given in so much more easily to torture, had screamed things he knew was false, things he'd just wanted to hear. This boy stuck with his story, and was silent, almost entirely silent. He supposed it was because of what had been done to him before. He knew that no torture he attempted would equal what had been done to the boy in the labs. Even he had limits on what he would do to a human being. "Hello David."

The child shuddered, but still spoke, "hello Mr. Kane. Are you here to get me?"

Ian nodded, "yes. Have your arms healed up?"

David nodded, but still held them against his body, "why do you do it to me?"

"Because you have information I need." He answered, simply and quickly.

David shook his head, "no I don't. I told you everything I remember. I remember that I have that thing in my head. I told you about that, you know you can find what you want on that. The people told me that anyone with the right tool could. That's all I remember, that and shadows, so why do you do it to me?"

Ian sighed, the kid was smarter than he'd given him credit for, although anyone who could withstand being cut like that, without passing out, was probably exceptional in other areas. He'd learned quickly enough that screaming didn't lessen the pain, and that no one could hear him... "You already know the answer, now come on. Someone is looking for you, and we have to move you. I bet you know who is looking for you, don't you?"

Something shadowed flitted thorough the back of Davids mind, like a butterfly landing just for a second, then letting go to float away on a breeze. He pursed his lips, working to hold onto the single thought, and he said it out loud, so he wouldn't forget it, "sister."

Ian Kane smiled, "there's a good boy. Let's go see if you can remember anything else about this girl."

David backed into the corner of the room, fear finally making it's way into his features. He shook his head, "you can hurt someone else. Someone who screams. You'll like that better."

He shook his head with a sigh, this child couldn't understand... "I can't just torture anyone, and if I keep torturing you, you _will_ live longer, you know. Because they're going to kill you as soon as I tell them what they want to know. No one would miss you, either. You would just be another unfortunate casualty."

He leaned against the wall. It was a game they had played, for the last few months now. Ian would wait, would threaten, would barter, and manage to get the boy to come to him of his own free will. Something that took even the tiniest amount of trust. It was a sort of relationship he was forming. Ian was the master, the one in charge, and David would learn to trust what he said. One thing, Ian would never break his promises to the boy, although sometimes he did make unruly demands that Ian just couldn't abide by. Most of the time though, he asked for something reasonable. David ground his teeth, just for a second, then stopped, and looked up at Ian, "you can't hurt this boy, or his friends. Ever. You can't touch them, or shoot them, or electrocute them, or cut them, or kill them. You aren't allowed to make anyone else hurt them either." Ethan would miss him, because Ethan was kind. Even if he was weird, he was someone David knew he could rely on. Ethan was his friend.

"Interesting," Ian muttered, looking back at the boy. "Not his friends either?"

David nodded. "Not his friends either. There are two girls Ethan told me about. Emily and Sterling. You aren't allowed to hurt or kill them either. Ever. And you can threaten me, and hurt me worse, or kill me, but I'm not moving until you promise."

Ian leaned back, looking at the two boys. Ethan, was the others name then. He didn't seem important... Then there was Emily, he had heard about her from Hess. He wondered what he was going to do with her. He didn't seem intent on keeping her, or really on doing anything to her but using her as bait. The unfortunate coincidence of this was that her two little friends had gotten dragged along also... One of whom was Sterling. The same girl he'd been commanded to hunt down and kill. He wasn't sure if he wanted to destroy Giovanni or Hess more. Although, Andrew Hess was an idiot compared to Giovanni. And this would burn the moron up. Ian paced a few times. Giovanni, on all accounts, had once been his friend, so that would make the look on his face just that much better... but that would just have to wait. The opportunity that had presented itself was too much not to take. Not only was David going to come straight to him, but he was trusting him with his friends lives. What this would do the boy psychologically was something he needed to see. "You have a deal David. I will not harm Ethan, Emily, or Sterling. I will not allow anyone I have control over to harm them either."

David walked over slowly, a serious frown on his face, "thank you, Mr. Kane."

Ian was surprised, but he hid it. David had never thanked him before. Or even been mildly courteous.

.~.~.~.~.~

Giovanni looked out at the flying snow, tapping his foot gently on the bottom of the helicopter. If it weren't for the radar, he doubted that they would be able to fly at all. "Sir, we're going to have to land." The pilot frowned, squinting at the snow. He wasn't sure he would be able to actually land in this... "I can't see anything, and the snow is beginning to interfere with the transmission. We've lost all ground contact."

"Are we past the castle?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, land as soon as possible. If I'd known Kane was part of this, I would have come out here immediately. It's bad enough that I found out this late. Ian is far more dangerous than anyone else, I should have been told immediately when he was transferred. It's amazing that this was hidden from me for so long." He ground his fingers against the palm of his hand, feeling short nails biting. Ian Kane was possibly the most dangerous person alive, and Giovanni was angrier than what he could express in words that instead of telling him what had happened, his admins had tried to cover their own asses. He would have to address that problem later. Actually, there were several things he wished he could be doing, instead of confronting a man who definitely wanted to kill him.

"Sir, if it's any consolation, he probably doesn't have any Pokemon."

Giovanni considered laughing, but instead he just smirked, "if you had ever met the man Avery... Trust me, that's no consolation. None at all. Ian doesn't need Pokemon himself, he just needs a few people who have them."

The pilot shivered. He'd never heard that tone in Giovanni's voice before. He'd listened in on every conversation, every meeting, that had gone on in the back of this Helicopter. He'd never once heard Giovanni sound like this. Actually afraid.

XOX

David, little David... There's so much behind him, besides what I have written here or will ever write into these stories. He's someone I wasn't going to include at all at when I started this, although I've known his story for a long time. But... things put themselves together sometimes.

And yeah. Hannah can talk. No, I didn't do it for plot development. She's been able to talk for a while now, but she's scared. I'm slowly finding out that Hannah has some self confidence problems, although I'm the one who gave them to her, so I suppose it's my fault.

What did Silver whisper in Keri's ear? Well, _I_ don't know. Heh. Something very dirty, no doubt, looking at the reaction it got. Dejavu? What are you talking about? I've _never_ had Silver whisper anything dirty in Keri's ear before, have I?

Giovanni? Afraid? Hell yes. As soon as I get to the back story on Kane... Giovanni has a very good reason to be afraid of this man. Of course, that means everyone else does too.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to Animeheartattck for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Andrew stood next to Clairess, watching as the Porygon Z twitched and twisted in the glass case. He didn't know what the programmers had done to it, but the thing seemed to be in pain. He debated killing it, just because Clairess had told him it was bound. It would certainly take care of the problem that was posed by the human half of the binding. There were more people who knew about it than he had thought, and that was a problem. It meant that others knew how to kill him easily, just like he knew how to kill them.

"_We should kill it._" he said, concentrating on the thin bond between the ice type and himself.

"_I agree._"

Andrew smirked, the first time they agree on anything. "_Would you like to do the honors? I believe that you are far better equipped to kill it than I._"

Clairess glared pointedly at him, "_This creature is young, and something I have little experience in destroying. Your technology created it, it should suffice to destroy the thing. Ask your so called 'programmers' if you don't know how to do it._"

He nodded slowly, and called over one of the people standing on the other side of the room. It was the communications room. He'd been waiting for a report when the Pokemon had been captured. "How do we kill it?"

The man seemed startled at the directness of the question, and Andrew knew that it made him sound somewhat pig headed, but that was how he'd acted his entire career. Act dumber than you are, and you can get away with more. He smiled, and motioned for the man to speak, "it's a computer virus." He stated hesitantly. "You kill it by making a program that _can_ kill it."

"Good. Who here can do that?"

The programmer looked around carefully, then turned back to Andrew, "well... we have the program, but it hasn't been updated. It'll take a few minutes."

Andrew ground his teeth, scowling at the man, "hurry up and do it then. The faster this thing disappears, the better. We have enough problems as it is."

Gizmo heard all of this, fighting what they had already put into him. The antiviral programs weren't typically a problem for him, normally getting through them was like tearing paper... he twisted frantically, trying to find a way to kill the programs. He felt Anya digging again, trying to find a way in. He opened his mind just enough to speak with her, to feel her relief. Her joy seemed to ebb the pain slightly. "_Anya._"

She tried to pry her way in deeper, and he almost let her, but instead he created a wall, blocking her out for the most part. "_Don't. Don't._" He wanted to say more, but it hurt to much. He didn't want to let her know they were going to kill him, but he wanted to give her the chance to let go...

"_Giz! What's wrong Giz? What did they do to you? Answer me! Silver is here, and his friends. We're going to the castle now, we're going to save everyone._"

"_They know Anya. They're going to kill me._"

He felt her shock, knew that she would be stopped dead in her tracks. Knew that it would be a while longer before she spoke again, but she finally did, "_we'll save you Giz. They aren't going to kill you. They don't know how._"

"_They do. They're working on the program now. I only have a few minutes Anya. I don't want you to die too._"

"_NO. No Gizmo! You're my best friend!_"

"_I'm touched, but you're being stupid. You'll die if you don't break the bond. The Ninetales told you how. I'm going to die Anya, you don't have to._" He felt tired all of the sudden, and knew that they were beginning the procedure. They would knock him out, download the program into him, and watch him disintegrate slowly, one twitching, twisting, painful, piece at a time.

Anya stood in the snow, breath puffing out in quick bursts of white condensation. Wind whipping across her face, tears making frozen tracks down her face. She stared at the group, who were trying to ask what was wrong, "I would rather die." She didn't realize that she had said it out loud too. "I love you, I would rather die. You're part of me." She began to tremble, feeling the connection waver. "It would be more merciful..."

Silver shouted at her, she didn't hear what he said. The Dragonite, she stepped forward, said something slowly. Anya was too far gone to care. She pried her way into Gizmo's consciousness and passed out as he did.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver shook her, shouting. He wasn't entirely sure what he was shouting, or what he was doing. He was vaguely aware of the phrase 'wake up', but he wasn't sure if he was the one saying it. Finally someone yanked him away. Keri pinned him down, staring him in the eyes. "Snap out of it! Now!"

He took a deep breath, fighting back the urge to cry. After a few more seconds he gently removed her hands, sitting up. He turned to look at Hannah, ignoring everyone else. "What did you say." It didn't sound like a question, it sounded like a command, an order to explain.

Hannah stepped forward, "a bound pair is far more than being able to speak to one another, far more than gaining knowledge and help from one another. Imagine if Keri were killed," she paused, as Silver inhaled slowly. He had turned pale, looked sick, at just the mere mention of the idea. "Our connection runs far deeper than yours, and yours is very strong. We are connected so closely, that if we choose, we can share our minds entirely, so closely that there is not a point in time during which we cannot acutely feel one another. Loosing that would kill Anya, leave her entirely empty. They are killing her Bound, and she has chosen to go with him, rather than remain without his piece in her soul."

.~.~.~.~.~

Michael paced, waiting for Jack to come back down the stairs. He looked towards the tunnels, then back up at the stairs as the door opened and shut, Mrs. Winter and Jack beating a random rhythm on the stairs as they stepped down them. Jack looked startled to see him up and walking, and made an effort to just brush it off, but he couldn't, "how are you walking?"

He bit his bottom lip... "we need to go. Now. Down the left tunnel." It wasn't an answer to Jacks question, but he didn't have an answer to Jacks question.

Mrs. Winter shook her head slowly at him, "you should be sleeping, but I suppose that it will have to wait. I've brought your things, at least the items I had time to hide properly. There isn't much, although the Ditto gave me a shock."

Michael paused his pacing to stare at her for a second, then he grinned, a short laugh, "I'd completely forgotten about Ditto... it should come in handy."

The Pokemon molded from the shape of a small pot into it's typical pink blobish form. It then turned into a Spearow and fluttered over to Michael, choosing to keep that form, and sitting on his shoulder. The Pokemon chirped once, then settled. Jack flung his small bag onto his back, missing the familiar weight of his messenger bag. Hannah needed to keep it though. "Well, if we have to go now, then I suppose we should go. Mrs. Winter, are you going to come with?"

The old woman shook her head. "No, I'm sorry to say that I'm not. That tunnel splits off about halfway through, you'll want to take the left one to get to the castle, and the right to go to the woods behind."

Michael took the pack from her, it wasn't his, but he could feel the weight of the supplies in it. He put it on his back, waiting for a second as the supposed Sprearow on his shoulder flew to the other side so that he could put it all the way on. "Thank you. I have a feeling that we're going to need both."

She smiled and waved them off. Jack glanced back as they headed into the tunnel. It quickly grew dark, and Jack cursed as he began looking for a flashlight in his pack. He sighed, "Mike, you have a flashlight?"

Michael paused, wondering... "Ditto, would you please change into a Charmelion for us?"

He felt the light weight of the Pokemon lift from his shoulder, and then heard nothing as the Pokemon transformed, then a light fwoosh and quiet crackle as the newly formed fire type appeared before him. It looked back, waving it's tail lightly, causing shadows to ripple and jump on the walls. It let out a pleased puff of flame, and began walking down the tunnel. Michael followed close behind, Jack stayed back a few steps, then decided to get closer, "you know what it is now, don't you?"

Michael let out a short sigh, "maybe. I know that there's something I need to do, and I know that Emily is in that castle. In all honestly, I feel exhausted, but we have to go, now."

"_It is past due._"

Both men stopped, then locked eyes. Jack finally rubbed a hand across his face, looking back to the transformed Ditto, who was waiting impatiently. He began walking, and Michael went in step with him. "You know what that was." Jack stated, "or you can guess."

Michael shook his head, picking up the pace. He still couldn't believe it. He knew that Jack was bound, and believed what he said about it, but it seemed like something out of a childrens book. He had to save Emily, that was it. And try to save Ethan. They walked in silence, both wrapped up in their own thoughts, for an hour. Finally they came up on a fork in the tunnel. Up until now the tunnel had seemed natural, but now it looked as though it had been dug out, carved with crude explosives and shovels. Maybe with the help of Pokemon. "You're going left," Jack asked, although it sounded more like a statement.

Michael nodded, "I suppose it's too late to say that I'm scared out of my mind."

"No. It's not too late for that, but it is too late to act on it. Emily needs you."

He nodded, "what are you going to do?"

Jack smiled, "I'm going to send Aretti out to get Ethan. She'll find the place he's in and blast a hole in the wall if she has to. I'll keep anyone who tries to attack her busy with Gyarados and Ninjask. Nathan and Jason are above in the woods."

"Good luck."

Jack smiled, "don't need it, you take it."

Michael shook his head with a sigh, "thanks Jack. I have to go I guess... I suppose I'll see you later."

Jack shrugged, "maybe," he began walking down the right side tunnel, "go get your little girl."

Michael almost protested, then watched for a second as Jack disappeared. He had been there for Emily since she had been born... as much as he possibly could. And soon he wanted to make it permanent, if Viox would say yes. "Yeah. She is my little girl," he growled. "And no half assed son of a bitch is going to take her away."

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver shivered as he stepped into the clearing, scouting ahead for the group. He looked down at his pin and pressed the black button. It began beeping consistently, a sound that was almost irritating. Soon enough it was beeping loudly as everyone else stepped into view. The pins stopped. "People are camping here. From the supplies it looks like they aren't from the castle." The pins had been useful enough, although they had made a point of sticking together for the most part, it had been nice when they sent someone scouting.

"Bingo," Nathan said, jogging out into the clearing. He'd just gotten back, and dropped an armload of tree branches in a pile next to the fire. "Sterling is on the boat, with Maddie. I wouldn't suggest going to see her right now, even though things are pretty calm... Jason went off to the castle and says he's meeting with Jack. It's been too quiet for the last two days, so I'm going to guess that something big is about to happen. Make yourselves at home. You may as well get some sleep before this entire thing blows up in our faces."

Keri took a deep breath. "Fine, we'll set up camp. Thanks for the warning, but..." she glanced at Viox, suddenly feeling terrible.

Viox smiled at her, "hey, it's okay. It pisses me off, but it's okay. Emily knew what she was doing when she let Sterling go alone. Emily will be fine, because I taught her what to do."

"Thanks Viox," Keri said. "Nathan, we _have_ to see her. I can wait until tomorrow, but we have to see her as soon as possible."

Nathan nodded, "I'll see if we can get you out to the boat, but when Madison dropped off Jason, it was almost impossible. You guys got lucky, right now no one is patrolling the forest, but on the open ice we're a clear target. Until then, we need help. I don't know if Jason is coming back, and I'm running out of ideas. Kadabra is holding a barrier on half the camp, trying to cover what he can and make us invisible."

"I can help with that." Hannah said, taking Jack's bag from around her neck and dropping it gently on the ground. She carefully pulled out five pokeballs and let them drop to the ground. "These are Ethans friends. They've been taking care of him since his parents disappeared."

"Alakazam, Rotom, Ditto, Slowking, Tropius," Grant muttered, looking at them. The boy was being taken care of by Pokemon?

Nathan looked at them, forcing his gaze away from Hannah. The Dragonite could talk. Nice. "We need help with a barrier around camp, and possibly some traps, if you're willing to help."

Alakazam nodded, "_That's what we're here for. Tell us what you need us to do, we'll do it. Anything to help Ethan get home safe._" His voice transmitted through the group, then he floated out of the clearing to find the Kadabra. Slowking followed him, while Ditto, Rotom, and Tropius walked off together.

Nathan turned to Hannah, "Jack should be here soon. Jason told me most of what was going on."

Hannah nodded, and crouched down on the ground beside Anya. She had carried her when she had feinted, and knew that it was hard... She was refusing to wake up, staying unconscious on purpose. Her heart was still beating though. Out of the corner of her eye, Hannah saw something, and turned to look, but it was gone before she could actually look at it. All she got was a quick flash of white. Silver slid his pack off his back. "There's nothing for it then... We have to get some rest."

Nathan nodded and went back to chopping the branches in half. Keri frowned and sent out Scyther, "Please help Nathan," she said, pointing at the pile of logs and branches. Her Pokemon had then cut up in a matter of seconds, rather than the hour it would have taken him.

He nodded at her, "thanks. Now get some sleep, you and Silver can take a joint watch, if you think you can keep focused enough. I know it's early, but I've been grabbing sleep where I can, when I'm not fending off the convicts."

"Sure Nathan, but if something or someone attacks, we'll be up in a heartbeat. We were Rockets, after all. And all of us are Trainers, still."

They began setting up their tents, and within minutes they were all curled in their sleeping bags, except Hannah, who was standing watch. She sat slowly, watching over Anya, wishing she could offer some comfort.

.~.~.~.~.~

Andrew was furious. Just as they had been downloading the program, the Pokemon had disappeared in a white flash. He didn't know how, the programmers had assured him it was impossible for the creature to escape. He snarled, staring at the bloody mess pooling at his feet. He hadn't done something like that in a long time. Hadn't killed at all for the past few months... Although he would have to find new people to work on the computers now. A small consequence. A young woman stepped into the room, and Andrew turned to look at her. "Sir, she's been spotted. Traveling with a group."

Excitement and fury fought with each other to become the dominant emotion. First _her_ then he would go find Giovanni. He carefully looked at the woman standing in front of him. She had been one of the inmates... "Good." He growled. She had a decent figure, although the scar on her forehead was an eyesore... it had been a long time since that, too.

She warily took a step inside, looking past him, somewhat concerned about the blood. After a minute, she realized that it was the two people he'd had working on the computers. Murdered... She'd done much the same before, hadn't she? But... these were people who _worked for him_. She instantly sensed something severely wrong, and turned to leave. She was too late to berate herself as she felt him slam into her back. Bad move, stupid move, never turn your back... Never turn your back on an enemy. Wasn't that what she'd been taught... But he shouldn't have been her enemy. She gasped for breath as he pressed in harder.

Andrew felt immense pleasure at frightening this woman, at what he was going to soon get from her, and then what he was going to get from Viox. He grabbed her head and slammed it into the wall, not hard enough to knock her out, but enough to make her dizzy... still an art he had perfected. She stopped trying to jerk away as her head spun, as she tried to regain her focus. He was going to get as much out of this as he could... He pulled a bloodied piece of glass from his belt, something he'd been considering keeping as a souvenir from this place, and pressed it against her cheek. "Be good and beg now," he whispered, adjusting it so that tiny dots of blood began to bead against her skin.

.~.~.~.~.~

Gizmo shuddered, staring. He seemed to be in a whitish room... or an expanse of white. There didn't seem to be any definite walls, but he knew that there were boundaries. "_Where am I_?" He asked, staring around. Was this death? If it was, it seemed to be very boring...

"_You are in the changing place._"

A Pokemon appeared, and Gizmo stared. It was snow white, almost blending into the background, with sharp blue eyes, like sapphires. "_You're Nintales!_"

It smiled, tails swishing gently, "_yes. I am who you speak of. You are not dead, Gizmo. Not when you have barely lived to serve my purpose. I gave both you and Anya life, and it is not by your choice, nor by the choice of another, through which it will be taken. The connection is not complete however. That is why I have brought you here. The connection you have was made by man, and it is not whole, but you and Anya have chosen to serve me, and you have proven to be truly connected. Not just through the link, but through your entire being. You are willing to give your life for her, and she, for you. And neither would choose to live without._"

"_What about the others? The others who are bound? Are they the same? Do... do they love... like this?_" He asked, unsure if he should get closer to the creature standing in front of him.

"_Some even more so. Love is deep, and by the time of your death you will have barely scratched the surface. You are going to go to sleep now, and when you wake, you will be with Anya. Watch over her until she wakes._" He had been stepping forward slowly while speaking, and was now merely inches away from the Porygon Z.

"_Wait, what are we supposed to do? Why us?_"

The Nintales smiled again, "_Now is not the time, nor the place. It is time to sleep, Gizmo._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Hannah relaxed, staring into the fire. The woods had gone silent, but not eerily, just... peacefully. She turned as a Pokemon stepped out of the woods, and sat down next to Anya. The coat was Pure white. It seemed to be brighter than the fire. She watched as it gently laid a Pokemon down next to Anya. Hannah almost didn't dare breathe. He turned to her. "_Hannah._"

She bowed her head, not meeting his eyes, "_yes?_"

He stepped closer to her, "l_ook up, Dragonite. Look at me. I have chosen you, do not be ashamed._"

She trembled, and finally burst into tears. Nintales nodded to her, then gently padded out of the clearing. Hannah wiped her eyes on her arm, looking at Gizmo and Anya. She, even in such a deep sleep, had reached out to touch the Pokemon. She reached out, and brushed against Jack, trying to speak to him, trying to have him see through her eyes for a second. "_Jack... Jack?_" Fear gripped her, because she knew that he hadn't heard her.

Instead he heard a reply from a different voice, and she twisted around, searching for it. She finally sighed, and sat, and listened for it. When she heard it, she grabbed onto the strings of the connection, something barely stronger than a thread. "_Who are you?_"

It strengthened a little, and she dug her claws into the ground as she felt him. It was the boy. "_My name is Ethan... You're different, from the others. You think different... connect different._"

"_Others? Who?_"

"_The other Pokemon. When I talk to them, they listen, they don't ask questions... It feels different, talking to them. My friends are here, you brought them, didn't you? Slowking told me. Aretti, the Areodactyl, she told me about you too, told me that I should tell you that Jack needs help. They're trying to get me out, Emily too, I think. Aretti got __hurt, she won't let me help. You have to go._"

Hannah had shot out into the forest before he'd finished talking, "_I'm there, now._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Michael gently pushed the door open, unsurprised to find himself on the other side of a book case. He had figured as much, a hiding place behind some obscure piece of furniture. Maybe a tapestry. Ditto swirled into a Spinnerak and scuttled up the wall and onto the ceiling, then crept into the hall. Michael stuck his head out from behind the book case, and breathed a sigh of relief. Empty hall, no guards. He looked up, and began jogging after the green Bug type. He felt fear prickle up his spine. This was unnerving, rooms stood, empty and dusty, with their doors open. Finally he got to one that was shut, and he knew that she was inside. Just a little ways down the hall was a huge set of double doors. He stuck out his arm for Ditto to land on, and watched them nervously. "Ditto, unlock it if you can?"

The Pokemon turned back to it's typical pink blobby state, and attacked the doorknob. After a few seconds it clicked, ditto turned it, and shoved the door open. It transformed quickly into a Spinnerak again, and crawled up Michaels leg and onto his arm. He swallowed, "good job Ditto, thanks." How quickly the pokemon's loyalty seemed to have turned.

He pushed the door open and stepped in, looking around. The floor was littered with books, and there were several stacks. Emily's backpack was by a bookcase, and it looked completely stuffed. He looked around, finally seeing her on the bed, her arm around an open, black, leather bound book. She looked healthy... he walked over silently, brushing her dark hair back from her forehead. "Hey sleepy head..."

She stirred a little, and the book thumped to the floor. He frowned and picked it up, reading a few lines... He took off his backpack and carefully put it in. He wanted to read more of that later, and was disturbed that Emily was reading it. From those few lines, it seemed very dark. He looked back at the book case, and at the books on the floor, and realized that they all looked the same. Her backpack was full... probably of the same. He turned back to the bed, and sat down gently, smiling as he watched her sleep. "Hey... Emily, I'm here."

Emily sat up, blinking slowly. She stared at him for a few seconds, then slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and beginning to sob. He wrapped his arms around her back, "I'm here now, it's okay."

After about a minute she'd managed to calm down enough to speak, "no. It's not. It's not okay until we're home." She swallowed, looking past him at the pile of books. "I've been reading. We have to take as many of those books with as possible, they're important."

Michael frowned, looking at them, then back at Emily. Was this sort of obsession normal? He didn't like how those books looked, bound in black leather. "Why are they important Emily?"

Emily bit her lip, and looked at him. She couldn't tell him that she couldn't tell, that's not how Michael worked... she bit her lip a little harder as it trembled. She hated crying, but seeing him had just made everything so much better, had made so many things okay... "Ethan can talk to Pokemon... the books are about that." She looked guiltily at the Ratata hole. She'd promised... "I promised I wouldn't tell anyone."

Michael shook his head, "I swear I won't tell. We're going to have a lot of secrets to keep in the future, I think. Sterling is taking care of Linoon for me right now... I heard that you were very brave."

Emily grinned, and slid off the bed. "Only for Ethan. I was mostly scared. I wish they hadn't put us in different rooms, but we've been able to talk," she paused, "he sent messages with the Ratata." Ethan talking to her in her dreams was something she wanted to keep a secret. She stretched and grabbed the backpack on the floor, lifting it with a little difficulty and placing it on her back.

Michael frowned, "are you sure you can carry that?"

Emily nodded, "I've been practicing. I can't carry more though... The only ones left that I want to take are the ones on the desk. I tried to find ones with dates, and get them in order. I know I have the first one and the last one. The last one is really new."

Michael slid his pack off and unzipped it, seeing a handful of empty pokeballs, and some healing supplies. And three cans of chicken noodle soup. He almost laughed. Instead, he took the fifteen books on the desk and slid them inside. They were lighter than he'd expected. He frowned, and unzipped Emilys backpack, taking about twenty of the books and putting them in his. He zipped the pack back up, "you ready?"

Emily nodded and they made their way into the hallway, Ditto turned Spinnerak crawling along the ceiling and leading the way. Michael shoved the bookcase, and it opened easily. He waited for Ditto to transform again, into the Charmelion, and he took Emily's hand and stepped into the dark hallway. Home. Soon they would all be home.

XOX

You know, I cut part of this chapter out, and then added something, and it ended up longer than the original. Go figure. There's a lot of things I put in here that I wasn't going to originally, but I was forced to change my mind as I realized that the story wouldn't make sense if I didn't.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Giovanni grimaced, looking at the crude camp site. It had been easy enough to find... too easy to find. He stepped through, into the clearing. A girl looked up at him, and it took a moment for Giovanni to realize who it was. "If I'd known about your hair, I would have had it shaved off," he growled.

She glanced over at him, mildly surprised. "That's what Silver said. I thought you were all businessey and kept out of messes like this. Cause you know, they're beneath you." She poked the fire with a stick, waiting calmly for a reply. Irritating Silver was a skill she'd quickly picked up, and used. She figured that his father would be just as easy to infuriate.

"What are you doing here? Besides making a nuisance of yourself." He asked, wiping snow off the log on the other side of the fire, and taking a seat with so much dignity and grace, anyone else would have thought it was a business meeting.

Anya shrugged, "hunting down a project. Microchips in brains and all that junk. I was going to just take the kid and run."

He raised an eyebrow, "and you're telling me this why?"

"Because I was almost killed today. Because by some random miracle, I have my leg back, and it works. Like nothing ever happened. Because I lost my chance to get the kid. Because Silver is still asleep, and I have to talk to someone before my head explodes. I don't know. Maybe I'm telling you because we're going to be in the middle of some sort of war soon, or already are. And I just need to make sure that there's another human being on the planet that knows about David." She snapped a small stick in her hands. Giz was _alive_. She was _alive_. She _had her leg back_. Giovanni was somehow the root of this, he was the root of anything to do with Team Rocket, so why not?

"Sounds like you've been through a lot. In the last week alone. Silver isn't going to be happy to see me here."

"No one is going to be happy to see you here. If you haven't noticed, most people don't exactly like you." She stated, giving him a short glare. "David had a microchip placed in his brain, when he was a baby. He's five or six now, and when he was kidnapped, they wiped his memory. Maybe things are stored in his natural brain, but there's no way for him to access that. Not easily. The same thing that allowed him to develop properly is going to make his life hell. I've been trying to save him for years now, and when I get my chance, well," she laughed, "it just turns out... It turns out that there's no way for me to get to him. Ninetales told me about that camp, and that man. I have no idea what to do."

"What is Ninetales?" He frowned, thinking over her information. Before this was over, he had to confront Ian. There wasn't a way around it. Ian Kane was dangerous, and Giovanni should have killed him long ago. He gripped one of his pokeballs in his fist, looking at the shiny surface.

"Some sort of Entity. We don't really know. None of us do."

He nodded, knowing better than to ask questions. He'd seen the reports on Jack Rain, he'd see what had happened to this girl... He wasn't interested in learning any more than what he knew about whatever that... _thing_, was. He brushed a flake of snow off the pokeball and reattached it to his belt. Ian... He shut his eyes for a second, biting back memories. They were nothing more than that now. Ian had betrayed him, had nearly killed him. Whatever friendship they'd had didn't exist any more. He started slightly as Anya spoke, "you should probably talk to someone about that."

Giovanni looked at her, something between a glare and a smile, "really? You're right, I should. I'm not going to. What happened then is the past, talking about it can't change it."

Anya shrugged, "suit yourself."

Silver blinked, slowly unwrapping his arm from around Keri. No. There was no way... He pulled himself out from under the blankets and yanked on his boots, running his fingers through his hair to keep it out of his eyes. He ground his teeth, hearing the murmurs again. He slid the knife out of his belt and unzipped the tent, stepping out. His eyes didn't need to adjust, he scowled, seeing Giovanni sitting at the fire. "Why the hell are you here?"

Giovanni looked up, like he hadn't heard the tent unzip. "An old rival of mine is out to kill you and everyone else connected to me. I figured I'd save you the trouble of killing him."

Silver stepped towards the fire, fighting his urge to strangle the man sitting by it. "Here's an idea, let me kill him, and stay far far away from my family."

Giovanni mulled over his options in his mind. Tell Silver the truth, or make it seem like a much smaller deal than it was, and confront Ian before Silver got the chance. He slid a finger over the pokeball on his belt again. "Keri already lost you once, because of me. She doesn't need to again, from your own stupidity."

Silver wasn't sure if he was shocked or angry. He shoved the knife back into his belt and decided to go with both, looking his father in the eye. He saw something in those eyes for a second, "so he's that dangerous?"

Giovanni smirked, "it's not that obvious is it? And I thought I was doing a good job of hiding the fear. I suppose I'm getting old. Or soft. Probably both."

Silver frowned. Giovanni was never this blatant about what he was thinking. "So who is this guy?" He glanced at Anya, sitting next to her on the log. He was getting sick of all this snow...

"We started Team Rocket together. Our partnership was... destroyed," he shrugged. "It turns out that when someone you've been friends with your whole life tries to kill you, it changes the relationship. I should have killed him when I had the chance, he was always the smart one, the genius behind our plans. I knew he'd get out eventually, that something like this would happen... You aren't the only one who blamed me for your mothers death, some people just saw it before I did." He was rolling the pokeball in his hands again. Ian had been right...

"We found the cancer a long time before you were born, we thought we'd gotten rid of it all, but he wasn't satisfied. Stella," he almost choked on the name, it had been such a long time since he'd said it, "Stella told him that she would be fine. We both knew she wouldn't be... Ian went berserk. We fought constantly, never in front of her, but... He finally decided to take matters into his own hands. Obviously he failed, or neither of us would be here. We both watched as Ian was dragged to prison, I made sure he was locked up as tightly as possible. I told Stella what had happened, why we were fighting. She said that it didn't matter. It is my fault she's dead." He sighed, brushing a few stray snowflakes off his pants.

"Wow. This entire fight has been over a death none of you could have prevented? That's stupid. Ian tried to kill you because your wife had cancer, and thought it was your fault? How exactly does that work? And," she looked over at Silver, "you. You are an idiot. I mean, I probably don't hold a candle to you when it comes to smarts, but _he's your dad_."

Giovanni shook his head, "if I'd stayed away, she wouldn't be dead. I smoked for years. We didn't know then, no one did, but if I had stayed away from her she would have lived twice as long. It wouldn't have progressed as quickly. I quit after we found out, but it was too late."

"You'd be completely insane... You were." Silver looked up at him. He didn't like admitting it. He didn't like having anything in common... "You think the reason I stayed for _six years _was because I felt any sort of commitment to you? It was because I couldn't see how to get out and find them without putting them in danger. And now look where we are. Sitting in the middle of the woods waiting for people to come start shooting at us."

Anya glanced out to the woods, "Wow, speaking of that, Giz says that they're starting to comb the woods. We need to wake everyone up."

Silver looked at her again, and it suddenly hit him, "I thought you were _dead_."

She grimaced at him, "well that tells me just how much confidence you have in my ability to survive, thanks. My leg is all fixed up too. Thus are the miracles of the forces that be." She said sarcastically, smirking. "Or really just one force that none of us have any clue really wants. Anyway, time to wake everyone up and make sure the guns are loaded, because we're going to have trouble. Not even three psychic types can keep out an entire search party. Heck, they couldn't keep out your _dad_."

They both flinched at the word, and all three of them as a tent unzipped, "glad to see that you're feeling better. Irritated to see Giovanni here, but who really cares about that? Nothing changes." Viox, glaring as usual, stepped out of the tent. "So, who's ready to go and try to get themselves killed?"

Silver looked over at his and Keri's tent. The same dark blue material as all the others. Sturdy, weatherproof. Nothing different about it all, except for who was inside. There was something he'd beaten into the head of every grunt he'd trained. _You can get killed_. It didn't matter how many missions you had gone on, or how good a shot you were, it was always possible for someone else to get the upper hand. He shuddered. How many times had he almost died? Just because of one tiny careless mistake? Or because he'd lost his knife? Because someone had just been that much of a better fighter? Anya glanced at Giovanni, then Silver, then the tent. She placed a hand on Silvers shoulder, "hey, Big Brother, it would be more dangerous for her to stay here."

He considered telling her not to call him that, then he just shrugged her hand off. "I know."

.~.~.~.~.~

Sterling shivered, watching as more white rushed by. White ice, white snow, gray sky. The only color on the landscape was the sled that Madison was driving. "We'll be there in just a couple hours, and then you can wait down in the tunnels with Emily, or at the camp."

"Madison, what if-" Sterling never got to finish her sentence as a gunshot rang out. The Manectric howled in pain as a bullet smacked into its side. The sled lurched to a stop, and Madison returned the Pokemon. She looked around frantically, pushing Sterling down and covering her with a blanket. "We already saw her. Unless you want to end up dead, I suggest that both of you get out of the sled now. And hand over the Pokemon."

Madison stepped out of the sled and set the pokeballs in the snow. Sterling followed, hoping that they wouldn't tell her to get rid of her Pokemon too. A man in a white coat stood up from a small hill of snow. "We've been looking for this one," he stated, pointing the gun at Sterling, "kill the other."

Sterling stared, fear coursing through her. These weren't just threats, they were really going to kill Madison. They were going to _kill_ her. Sterling tried to step in front of her, but Madison pushed her back, "your parents would never forgive me. I know you'll see them, safe and sound."

A few more people rose up from behind drifts of snow. The one who had shot was laughing. "Not likely. This little brat has caused enough trouble for us, escaping in the first place. If Kane hadn't changed his mind about wanting her alive, well, I'd kill her right now."

"It is likely. Madison is Psychic. She knows what's going to happen." Sterling said, keeping her eyes on the man. "She'd be a lot more useful alive."

Madison almost shook her head. Sterling was trying to keep her safe, but how well would this work? If you knew where to look, Psychics were a dime a dozen, and many were much better than she was.

The man shrugged, "fine, we'll take her with. If Kane wants to kill her, well, then he can kill her. It's not like we don't have enough bullets to take her out if she tries anything." He pointed the gun at her, and the others aimed similar weapons, "now start walking, towards us, and don't stop walking until we say so. If your feet hurt, tough."

Sterling shuddered as she began walking towards this man. He wanted to kill her. He wanted to kill Madison. He'd shot one of the Pokemon. "Sterling, you're going to be fine."

Madison didn't sound as confident as usual, and Sterling looked up at her, worried. "Madison, how often do things change? How often are you wrong?"

The woman looked away, and the man with the gun smirked. How could Madison expect her to answer that? She wasn't wrong very often, but it was always possible. There was never any certainty. Sterling ground her teeth, fighting back tears. She might never see her parents again. It wasn't fair. She'd just gotten her father back, she'd just gotten to meet him. _It wasn't fair_. She'd heard grown ups say 'life isn't fair' before. She took a shallow breath, still fighting the tears. She thought about the phrase for a second. If life wasn't fair, then she was going to make it right. She would fight to make it right.

.~.~.~.~.~

Jack panted, though not nearly as hard as the Pokemon in front of him. He swallowed hard. He'd been able to take out six people. He'd had to shoot one, but he was pretty sure she was still alive. Four people had Pokemon on him now though. Ninjask was twitching in the snow, and Aretti could barely get a hit in on the castle. Not with how many bird Pokemon were attacking her. Hannah was helping, and there was a decent sized hole in the wall... but there was no way either of them could get close, and now he was pinned. To his back, freezing water. To his front? Six Pokemon that had been ordered to kill. "_Hannah..._"

"_Jack! Jack, I... there's too many._"

He shut his eyes. Gyarados was exhausted. Aretti was having a hard time staying in the air. Ninjask just hadn't been fast enough this time. Hannah couldn't take on thirteen at once. He couldn't fight any more either. He was out of bullets, and he knew at least two of his ribs were broken. It was getting hard to move, let alone breathe. He grabbed the pin on his shirt and felt for the button, "_Hannah... I don't know how we're going to get out of it this time._"

"_We've faced worse!_"

"_No... we haven't. Hannah... I love you. You know that right? I love you more than anything else. I don't... I can't..._"

"_Jack. I love you too._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Ethan jolted to the opening, staring out. He shook his head, as if he could dislodge what he had just heard. Had he been asleep? He didn't know. That Dragonite, the one he'd grabbed onto with his mind, she was here. He looked down, there was the man, crouched with his back to the river. They were going to die.

Ethan gagged for a second, feeling like he was going to throw up. He had no clue what he had just heard, what he had just felt, but he couldn't just let them die. He stared out at the Pokemon, trying to grab onto each consciousness. "_STOP_."

He swallowed hard, they hadn't done anything. He stared, a Staraptor slashed it's beak into the Dragonite's back, the Aerodactyl was on the ground, one wing broken, the other torn and bleeding. He took a deep breath, gripping the wall. Alakazam had told him how to get a stronger connection... he ground his teeth and tapped into each mind again. They had to stop, they, "_STOP! STOP HURTING THEM!_"

He felt tears stinging his eyes. Some of them had stopped, only for a moment... He trembled, feeling fire rise in him. They didn't have to kill them, they had been hurt badly enough, the Dragonite had landed, she was barely fending off the attackers... He ground his teeth, he he grabbed onto each mind, breaking into them, taking control. "STOP NOW."

Hannah panted, staring at the Pokemon. They had just stopped in mid flight, falling to the ground. She turned to look at Jack. He was already making his way past the Pokemon and people, Gyrados and Aretti returned and safely in the pocket of his torn clothes. He shivered, looking up at the castle, the hole. "Hannah... he did that."

She nodded slowly, and looked up at the boy. She could see him tremble for a second, then collapse to his knees. "_I can't hold them forever._" She jerked as the voice sounded in her mind. She looked at Jack. He was staring wide eyed. Hannah took a deep breath and flew to the hole, grabbing the boy and landing as quickly as she could. He was shuddering, crying.

Jack picked him up and placed him on his back, wincing under the weight. "It's okay, we're going to get out of here."

The boy just wrapped his arms around his neck, terrified. He wanted to let go... he also wanted to hold on. It was so easy to hold them like this, to keep them from moving. It had been a simple command, and that was all it had taken. He could make them do whatever he wanted, even the people had stopped. If he could do it with them, he could do it with anything. He slowly released them, feeling them sluggishly start into motion... he winced, feeling a sharp pain in his head, like someone had smacked him with a rock. Like someone was smacking him with a rock, over and over and over again. After a few more seconds he couldn't take it anymore, and blacked out.

Hannah crouched on all fours, making Jack pus some weight on her. He was hurt much worse, she could see that. He wasn't breathing right, and there was blood seeping out of his torn clothes. He was limping. "Jack, please."

He was surprised, Hannah almost never spoke out loud. He cleared his throat, "yeah. Okay. Hannah... This kid..."

"_His name is Ethan_." She slid into Jacks mind, and lifted some of the pain. Only from the cuts and bruises. He needed the pain in his lungs if that got to be too much, she needed to make him stop... "_Jack, should we have rescued him?_"

Jack swallowed, breathing shallowly, "_Hannah... it's never wrong to help someone who is in danger... but I can't help but wonder the same thing. He's... even I felt it._"

"_He's been taught by those Pokemon, his family, but it's not enough. When he gets older he's going to need someone, and what if he finds the wrong person Jack? He's too powerful to be left alone._"

"_Maybe he should be left alone. People are the reason this world is so messed up._"

"_Humans were put here for a reason! Do you think I would be better off without _you_? Jack... Maybe we could take care of him... He's going to need a _human being_ that understands how this works. It's not the same, but it's close. Pokemon can take care of and raise human children, but it's not the same Jack... and... Jack... I... I want him._"

Jack stopped dead, and stared at her. She had never... "What?"

"_Never mind. I... just..._"

"We'll have to talk to his family... but you're right. He's going to need a human being to take care of him eventually. And he's going to need someone who at least shares a similar ability. And if you wanted a kid, why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Because it's not possible."

"Hannah, look at me," He made sure to hold her gaze, wishing he could hold _her_ somehow. This wasn't a conversation he'd thought would happen after a bloody death match. "You're talking out loud, am holding back at least half of the pain I _should_ be in, and are the entire reason I'm alive. It's probably not possible physically, but I honestly gave up on trying to figure out what was really possible a long time ago." He knew it would be easier to just talk to her in her head, or just letting her view his entire mind, not really thinking or forming the words... "I love _you_. I don't care what you are, or what you look like. I loved you a long time before... before this, before we could talk like this, or share pain or see through each others eyes. And I know it was different before, but you have _always_ been my best friend, ever since I met you. You have always been _everything _to me. That will _never_ change."

.~.~.~.~.~

Andrew grimaced. The boy didn't matter, as long as he had Emily, he would still be able to get the revenge he wanted... He glared as the phone rang. He picked up the thing, flipping a switch on the monitor, "what is it Kane?"

"They're all here. Every one of them. I have Sterling, and one of their friends, outside help. They aren't in Team Rocket," he grinned on the other side of the phone.

"Why haven't you killed them yet?" Hess growled, grinding a hand into a fist. He'd had some people get rid of the bodies from the room, but there was still blood in a few places. Mostly on the floor.

"The friend, she's informative. She held up for a long time, but finally broke. They all eventually break. It's even better, because she's a psychic. I plan on killing her soon enough though. The people out here get wind that she sees the future, and they're going to get... _antsy_. Not that I care, I almost have what I want."

Andrew frowned, "what? I thought you wanted the girl."

Ian Kane laughed... "I want to make Giovanni suffer. I promised my little _project_ that I wouldn't hurt the girl, and I can't very well go back on a promise can I? If his son is here, well, maybe we'll have a nice family reunion."

Andrew shook his head slowly, "don't bring Giovanni out here." The look in Kane's eyes was terrifying.

"I believe that the time for you to give me commands has ended. I don't need you anymore. I don't like you Andrew Hess. I don't believe I will ever like you. Where Giovanni has a few slight flaws, you have what I would consider to be... a huge deformity. Killing your own men, for next to no reason, for things they cannot control... For your own personal blood lust, may be one of the most detestable things I have ever heard of. Giovanni didn't quite understand just how manipulative you could be, a mistake he never made when confining me. It is not a mistake I intend to make. I do owe you though, for getting me out of that place. So I think I'll give you some time to escape. Before I kill you," Ian grinned and snapped the receiver down on it's holder.

.~.~.~.~.~

Sterling shivered, wrapping her arms around her legs. It was warm enough in the room, but she was terrified. The boy on the floor in the corner stirred, and she inched her body up against the wall, as far away as possible, "who are you?" She mumbled.

David blinked in the dim light, looking at the girl. He had never seen her before... he had never seen such bright red hair before, "I live here." He stared for a few more seconds, "who are you?"

"I'm Sterling."

David swallowed. Ian had promised. Ian always kept his promises, "he's not going to hurt you. I promise. I made him promise." He stood up carefully, wincing as he put slight pressure on his arm.

She looked at him. He didn't have a shirt on, instead he was covered in bandages, "he's hurt _you_."

David shook his head, "I've been hurt a lot. They used to hurt me where I lived before. I don't remember much though... I made him promise that he wouldn't hurt you though. I was with Ethan, he told me about you. You, Emily, and Ethan are all safe. Ian never breaks a promise."

She smiled at him, "thanks... What's your name?"

"They call me David. Ethan said that you were really nice... Ian won't hurt me today. He said he was working on someone else."

Sterling nodded, tears springing to her eyes, "my friend, Madison. This is all my fault," she mumbled, burying her face in her arms.

David limped over, "hey."

She looked up at him, face puffy and red, "if I had just stayed in the castle, Madison would be safe. If I had just listened to the rules, and had stayed in the classroom, Emily and Ethan wouldn't be stuck."

David sat down next to her, "Ian tells me things. Everything," he looked over at her, her silver eyes reflected the little light in the room, making them seem even brighter, "the person who brought you here wanted Emily. He wants to kill her mom. I don't know if you or Ethan would be here, but I'm glad that you are. Maybe that's wrong, but it's how I feel. I don't know how long I'm going to live here, but I have friends now. You and Ethan. So I have _something_ to live for."

Sterling frowned, looking him in the eyes. Something passed there... "My mom told me something once. She told me to never stop fighting, no matter what." She carefully wrapped her arms around him, trying to avoid the bandages, "promise you won't stop fighting David. Everyone is worth something."

He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing hard, "I promise Sterling." He never broke his promises.

XOX

David sounds a lot older than he is sometimes. This is because of where he was before and what happened to him there. David has lived a lot in the past five years. More than any child his age should, and even though he doesn't remember a lot of it, it's still stuck in some ways. And he is very aware that the only reason Ian has kept him alive is because he's just a fascinating toy to him.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to Animeheartattck for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Andrew stared at the passageway, grinding his teeth. "Clairess," he seethed, "how did this happen?"

The Frosslass brushed some dust off of her arm, "_I don't know. Maybe it happened while you were off raping someone. I can't watch all of the hallways at once, normal Pokemon aren't easy to sense. Why wasn't someone watching the cameras?_" She looked at the tunnel. She had known it was there, but she'd never been down it. She'd always gotten an uneasy feeling around it, like if she went through she wouldn't come back.

He shot her a glare. She knew exactly why no one had been watching the cameras. "We're going down there. We have to leave anyway, but I'm not going without killing her. The plan will still work, we just have to follow the girl."

Clairess shivered at the tone in his voice. He sounded far too calm. He hadn't ever sounded this calm. She floated down the hall, away from him. She had made a mistake, the castle was hers now, but at what cost? She could have gained as much without the binding. She had done it though, and there was no way to break it. She flinched as he pried into her mind, "_I'll call you when I'm ready. Seeing the rest of the world will be good for you, although we'll have to avoid a few places. I'll gather another group,_" he growled, "_we'll be more powerful than we are here._" She turned and watched him, walking down the other hallway. She shook her head, Hess had no self control. He took what he wanted without a thought. She spotted a Ratata scurrying down the hallway, and froze it with a breath. The small purple creature perfectly petrified in a chunk of ice, mouth open, tail straight up... she grabbed the thing and threw it, the Pokemons small body shattering with the ice. She had heard everything. Ian was going to kill him, and she would die. She breached Hess's consciousness, "_death unto thine enemies. Life unto thine allies. Murder for the betrayer. Cold metal for the thief. Burning rope for thine self._" It was an old saying she had read, about a queen who committed suicide.

"_What_?"

Clairess ignored him, floating from one room to another.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver fired, and watched with a cold gaze as the man fell. Maybe when he woke up from this nightmare, the blood would wash off of his hands, "my father is here." It never had before though.

Keri shivered in the cold, crouching in the tree above him, "why?"

"He says there's someone who escaped that he should have killed a long time ago," Silver said, watching as a puff of his frosted breath disappeared. "Who do you think set off their pin?"

"Jack was the only one outside of camp," Keri stated, jumping down and stepping into footprints leading towards the castle. They weren't the same size, but it had started to snow again. The prints wouldn't matter soon enough.

Silver followed next to her, eyes hard and cold. He stopped, hearing a snapping noise. He slid his knife out and held it tight, waiting. He heard a click, and jumped at Keri, pinning her to the ground as the gun sounded. He rolled, seeing a pair of boots in the white behind the trees. He jumped with a snarl and grabbed the legs of whoever it was. He heard the gun sound again, a scream, and then he was backing away, wiping his blade on the snow, leaving red streaks as if it were the white powder that was bleeding, "I thought I had left this behind."

"We all did," Keri growled, standing with her gun pointed at a man. He threw his weapon and dropped to his knees. Silver made quick work of tying him up. Soon they were walking again, "I'm going to have nightmares about this for months."

"Just reliving the nightmare." Silver growled. He didn't know how he was doing it, or even if it was him. Sterling was safe with Madison, but Emily and Ethan were both still trapped. If Jack had failed, "if the right didn't belong to Viox I'd kill Hess for kidnapping them."

Keri shook her head as a man cocked his gun in the woods. Keri turned, pistol pointed straight at his head, "I promise I'm a better shot than you are. I will kill you, and I won't give it a second thought."

"Why haven't you yet?"

"Because I like to use my second thoughts before killing. You have three seconds to drop your gun, and throw away your knife. I want the whiskey on you too," she snarled, beginning to count.

She only got to two before the man threw his gun on the ground, and unhooked a knife from his belt, throwing it out to the snow in front of her. He unhooked the small silver flask from around his neck and threw it in front of her too. "You were talking about those kidnapped kids, right? Andrew is pissed, the girl escaped somehow, and this crazy guy attacked the castle and took the boy. The other girl though? The one with red hair, like yours?" he nodded at Silver, "Ian caught her and this other woman out on the ice field."

Silver gripped the handle of his knife, and suddenly slammed it into the trunk of the tree next to the man. It sank in about half way, then stopped. He turned to the man, eyes on fire, "why are you telling us this?"

He shrugged, "seemed important for you to know. I've had my fun helping start this, I'd like to see how it ends."

Silver kicked snow in his face, turned and grabbed the knife, and began running. Keri was right next to him, "Madison."

He nodded, grinding his teeth, "my father came out here to kill that man, but he's going to have to beat me to him."

.~.~.~.~.~

Giovanni fingered the pokeball, standing out in the snow. The valley was much colder than the canyon or woods. He frowned, waiting. After a few more minutes, a shadow made itself clear in the snow, and soon a form, then Ian came fully into view, alone. "Dono Giovanni. It's been a long time."

Giovanni nodded once, "more than twenty years. I have something that belongs to you. I've kept him in good shape." He threw the object, the pokeball. Ian caught it perfectly and released the creature inside.

The Luxray hissed, flattening it's ears against the cold. Upon seeing his old master though, it purred happily, rubbing against his legs. Ian rested the palm of his hand against the cats head, "this doesn't change what you did. Or the last twenty-six years."

"I know."

"She's dead, isn't she?"

Giovanni looked away, "you were right Ian. And you would be right to kill me," he looked back at the man, "you were always a better leader."

"With my men getting killed by the dozens by the son that hates you? And the girl he's going to marry that _you_ trained? The woman who was raped and had a child, that she dearly loves? The man that you spent years teaching, who just wants to raise a family of his own right now? The International Police agent, who loves a Pokemon and cares deeply about what happens to the friends they have both made? The teenager your son trained? The elites you brought? You led them all here, and you're going to finish what you started. A true leader faces the battles he started, isn't that true Dono?" He was stroking the Luxray, frowning in Giovanni's direction.

"Facing my mistakes doesn't make me any better of a leader. It just means that I am one. I know you want to kill me."

"And you're going to stand there and let me? Dono, I thought you knew better than _that_. I can't kill you, and take over Team Rocket now. I want to hurt you, is all. _Like you hurt me_."

"That won't bring her back Ian. Killing Silver won't fix this. She got so sick when she was pregnant with him I thought I was going to loose them both. She fought for him. He's a part of her too, he's more like her than me. For years I thought I wanted him dead too. It took me a long time to figure out that I loved him."

"It took you too long. You want to know what the best part about being insane is? You don't care about what was before. Stella is dead, and killing Silver won't bring her back, but it will bring you pain. Too bad I still love Team Rocket too much to kill you for it."

Giovanni sighed, "I have to kill you, you know that right?"

"You can only try. You could never beat me before. It's not going to have changed. Nothing ever changes Dono. Here we are, twenty-six years later, still fighting over the same things," he chuckled, "I'll beat you within an inch of your life if I have to, but I'm not going to kill you. I'm not crazy enough to destroy the balance you've created. You were sloppy with Hess though."

Giovanni grimaced, "I know. Look where it got me, my son, my granddaughter. Funny how one careless mistake can destroy everything."

"Just like in a battle, in life."

.~.~.~.~.~

"He's gone, I know because they're all in the house next to us, it's the biggest with the most heat. And no one has gone by in a while. As soon as he leaves they all go inside. You have Pokemon, right?" David asked, peeking out the door.

"Aren't you coming with me?"

"I can't. I'm hurt, I'd just drag you down," he said, pulling up his pant leg, showing a bandage stained with dark red. "If you run you can get out before they can do anything about it. I would just end up with frostbite, and get us both caught."

"I'll come back, I'll get you out of here." She opened the door a crack, staring out into the frigid air of the camp, then back at him, "I promise."

David shivered as the door snapped shut, the temperature dropping a few degrees. He looked out the window, watching as she ran. No one could hear her, they were making too much noise in the building next door. They thought that they were just two kids who didn't know how to do anything. It had taken him a long time to explain to Sterling that it didn't matter if she stayed or left, Ian would still hurt her friend. She had fallen asleep for a couple hours... He crawled over to the corner he slept in, pulling out a small box from under his blanket. Inside was an empty green colored pokeball, a dark green branch he had pulled off of a pine tree two days ago, a bright blue rock he'd found in the room he'd shared with Ethan. There was also a tightly wound ball of yellow yarn, just a little smaller than the pokeball, and a spool of black thread. He pulled out the thread and gently opened his hand. He wound the thread as tightly as he could, and tied it off just as tight. Maybe she wouldn't mind... He placed the thread back in the box, and gently placed the piece of bright red hair next to the pokeball. He'd had a knife in the box too, that one of the guards had dropped and forgotten, but he'd given it to her. She would need it more.

He shut the lid on the box, and curled up with it under the blanket. Ian was going to hurt him really bad for this. He wouldn't even use the knives, he would just hurt him. He rubbed the tears away as soon as they came. Sterling couldn't come back, even if she had promised. Ian wouldn't let her.

.~.~.~.~.~

Jason crouched, looking at the prints in the snow. He'd heard of Ninetales living in cold places before, but he'd never seen one this far north before. "_Think it's him?_" Shadow asked, looking through his eyes.

"_The one we saw before? I don't know._"

He stood and jogged through the woods, keeping a careful eye out for signs of danger. He'd knocked out four people already, and wasn't completely sure if the knots he'd tied would hold them. He shivered as a gust of wind shook snow off the branches of the trees. It wasn't that bad in here, but he could tell that the storm out there was getting worse. It was eerily quiet... He'd wanted to go to the castle, but he was lost. He sighed, having no idea where he was. It should have just been a straight shot to the place, but somehow he'd gotten off track. He shoved through a dry dead piece of brush, stomping into a small clearing, shivering. He was _supposed_ to be helping Jack. "Great, where are we now?"

A branch cracked behind him, and he turned, staring at the woods. He couldn't see anything. He turned back to the clearing, and shouted, stumbling back at the creature sitting just a few feet away. He tripped and fell back, ending up in a sitting position. The thing seemed to chuckle. He gasped for breath for a few seconds, staring. Finally the Ninetales spoke, walking forward slowly, "_relax. You have done nothing wrong that would warrant my being here._"

"Why are you here?" He asked, shivering in the snow.

"_For many reasons. I want you to look me in the eyes, now._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Michael had absolutely no idea where he was going. He breathed out a sigh, feeling elated that he had gotten Emily out so easily, but nervous. It had been a day already, he'd made camp with Emily and the Ditto's help, but they had stayed up all night, terrified. He had a disturbing feeling that something was watching them. "Michael," Emily yawned, "we'll get out of here eventually."

"I know, but I'm really worried," he said, giving her hand a little squeeze. "Which way do you think we should go now?"

They weren't on a path, and he had been sticking with a single direction for a while now, but he didn't feel right about the way they were going.

Emily shut her eyes for a few seconds, thinking... She opened them again, "why don't we go left?"

To their left, a voice sounded, "why don't you follow me? Instead of getting yourselves even more lost?" Jack grinned as he stepped towards them from behind some trees.

Michael felt relief wash through him, "thank goodness it's you. We've been wandering around for hours!" He let his eyes wander over the mans shoulder, seeing Hannah, and a young boy sitting on her back.

The boy slid down, a huge grin on his face, "EMILY!"

She stared at him for a few seconds, then ran over, slamming into and hugging him as tightly as possible, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"_You're hurting me_."

Emily blinked, and let go, looking at him funny, "What?"

He gave her a puzzled look, "I didn't say anything... Jack saved me, he broke into the castle with the help of his Pokemon and Hannah, and came and got me."

Jack grimaced slightly, looking from them to Michael, "Ethan... did more of the saving. Hannah wants to adopt him, I think it's a good idea. It would keep him out of an orphanage at least."

Michael frowned at the expression on his face, "what do you mean, about him saving you?"

Ethan looked up at them then, a slight fear in his eyes, "I didn't mean to do it. Not like that."

Jack sighed, "I know," he looked back to Michael, "I'll explain later. Right now we need to get back to Madison's boat. Mr. Briney is there and everything. I told Ethan a little bit about him."

"What, that he's a crazy old man who tied you up, and then later smacked me over the head with a cane for trying to help? And has a hard time keeping rude comments to himself?"

Jack had a highly amused look on his face, and smiled, "I take it that you still have some hard feelings about that."

Emily and Ethan stared at them, Ethan with less confusion than Emily. Emily frowned, "you mean the old sailor guy you told me about? Who snores all night and never stops talking?"

Michael sighed, "yes. We're going to meet him."

Emily grinned.

.~.~.~.~.~

Andrew shoved through trees, anger burning through him. Clairess was ahead, telling him where to go. He hadn't needed help in a while though, the prints were clear. It was just a matter of following them wherever they were heading, and being ready whenever he saw her. He snarled, seeing another person in the trees. Andrew had whipped out the pistol and shot them, bright red staining the snow, before they even saw him. Why hadn't he noticed how few people were still at the castle? He ground his teeth, shoving the gun back into it's holster. He shoved the body with his foot, and continued following the prints.

.~.~.~.~.~

Jason groaned and rolled over, feeling sick. It took him a moment to remember where he was, laying in the snow. He winced as a slightly high pitched voice sounded over him, "well look who's awake!"

He opened his eyes and glared at the girl staring over him, "who the hell are you?" She had bright pink hair and a small nose. And very bright blue eyes.

Anya grimaced, "well good evening to you too. My name is Anya, and I just had my leg replaced and my connection fixed. Just like you, minus the leg part."

He sat up slowly, staring around the clearing. A black shape appeared in front of his face, sticking it's tongue out, "_HI!_"

Jason jumped backwards, heart pounding faster, "_Don't _do_ that!_"

Anya looked around the Haunter, "so, I was part of an evil gene altering experiment where they tried to get people to move through space like Porygon does. What about you?"

He grimaced, "much less exciting. My brother sneaked me into a cancer treatment experiment thing when I was ten. There were only a few of us, but it went wrong and I'm the only one who survived longer than a year. I barely remember anything that happened. I'm twenty four."

"I'm twenty two." She lied.

Gizmo twisted next to her, "_why are you lying_?"

"_I like him. He's cute._"

"_Something is very wrong with you, of course, it's the same thing that's wrong with me. Silver would cut his head off._"

"_Hmmm... you may have a point there._"

Jason and Shadow smirked at the same time, "no you're not. We're very good at telling when people are lying. Years of practice."

"That is officially the creepiest thing I have ever seen. Okay, I'm nineteen, but I'm turning twenty in four months."

She frowned, watching as they turned to each other, then looked back at her, "sorry." Anya smirked, watching as they stared at each other and opened and shut their mouths at the same time. Suddenly Jason turned pale, grabbing his head in his hands, he threw up all over the snow. Shadow grimaced, "okay, I'm not going to do that again."

She frowned, "what happened?"

Jason gasped for breath for a second, "he cut me off."

Anya grimaced, then bit her lip. She looked between the two, "that's really bad. You two should be able to share as little or as much as you want at any given point in time."

He glanced up at her, "well, think about it. Lets say you've been addicted to painkillers since you were ten. You're sure as hell not going to be able to just stop. Well, Shadow has been _inside of me_ since I was ten. That little stunt felt like he was ripping half my brain out."

"I was essentially. Maybe I could try blocking off a little less... only so we aren't constantly thinking the same things at the same time."

"How about a lot less."

Anya grabbed his arm and helped him stand, "so, a new adventure huh? If Shadow dies, you die." She turned to the ghost type, "if Jason dies, you die. I almost had that unpleasant experience, and it's much worse than what just happened. There is a way to break the bond, you have to contact Ninetales to do it. We can call on Ninetales any time we want, he almost never responds himself, but he always answers with _something_."

"Why is your hair pink?"

She shrugged, "mostly because I felt like dying it that color. I had the misfortune of running into Silver and his dad here though, and they both threatened to shave my head. The color should wash out in a few weeks though."

Jason looked over at Shadow, unsure of how he felt. The Pokemon grinned, "_hey, guess what?_"

Jason let his eyebrows rise, "what?"

The Pokemon stuck out it's tongue and licked his face. Snickering, he backed away from the boy. Jason glared at him, "Get back here! That was disgusting!" He let go of Anya's arm and shot after the Haunter, chasing him around the clearing, "I'm going to get you for that you freak!"

"Like I'm the one who's the freak here!"

"_I wish you could talk out loud._" Anya said to Gizmo, resting a hand on his body.

"_Give it a few years, I think. So. You like him huh?_"

She shrugged, "_he's cute enough. I'm mostly just glad that I'm not the only one that was so messed up that Nintales had to come and fix them personally. I would never actually go after him anyway. It's been a few years, have you ever seen me do anything more serious than flirt with someone?_"

He twitched, turning to look at her, "_oh?_"

She shrugged again, "_I'm just not interested in a serious relationship,_" she smirked, glancing at him. "_Want to play a game?_"

"_That depends on the game._"

She grinned, "_it's called 'tackle Jason and Shadow to the ground' after that, we make them tell us where the boat is._"

"_Sounds like fun._"

.~.~.~.~.~

This felt like the right place. They had avoided it as well as they could walking through. Silver squinted his eyes, trying to see anything through the flying snow. He saw a shape appear and then disappear, the sounds of a battle barely audible above the howling wind. Keri gripped her gun tighter, "I don't like this."

"Me either," he stated, taking a step closer. "I have to go and get her."

Keri nodded, letting one of her hands rest on his arm, "I can't loose you again."

"We can't loose _her_. I'll be fine," he stared her in the eyes, stroking back a piece of hair. He pressed his lips against hers gently, wanting to hold her close and breathe her in. Instead he backed away a step... "Lets hurry."

They stepped through the snow, uneasiness growing. Suddenly the wind cleared, and Silver blinked. It was like stepping into a different world. He could see the snow flying around them, but there was a barrier keeping it from getting into the bubble. Keri Stared, seeing a Luxray and Persian with jaws locked, slashing at one another. She saw something move behind the man, his eyes cold and calculating as they focused on the battle.

Sterling looked up from behind the small mound of snow, eyes widening at seeing her parents step into the clearing. She crouched low again, biting her lip. All she wanted to do was run up to them, but she was afraid of disturbing the battle. She looked up again, and her eyes locked with her mothers.

Keri made a noise. It was just a small one, that she had almost stopped in time. Inside she wanted to scream out her name, tear across the field.

Ian tore out his gun at the sound, suddenly noticing the two people standing on the edge of the field, and fired.

XOX

Ethan took a piece of Sterling's hair because it's such a bright and pretty color, not because he's weird. Although doing that is weird, he doesn't get to see a lot of color, and never has. So he has his box, full of colorful things. The knife inside had a white handle, made of bone, although he really just thought it was pretty. He gave it to her because he's put together the necessity of a weapon when in a dangerous situation. Also, I'm feeling very very evil today. I'm sure you could tell coughcliffhangercough.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Viox Shivered at the edge of the field, keeping watch over the camp. She'd already seen Anya leave for the boat, with a boy she'd introduced as Jason. Viox crossed paths with her Pokemon, "good work Ivysaur." It grunted a greeting and continued circling in the other direction. She noticed the Slowking standing, looking out at the trees and snow. She passed her, glancing back for a second. It hadn't moved a muscle since she'd first passed. She heard some noise and ducked across the barrier and through camp, knowing that the psychic Pokemon were just letting her through. She cocked her pistol, holding it up and waiting, watching, on the other side.

"Don't shoot Viox," Michael said slowly, stepping past a tree and into view.

"What are you doing here? Have you seen Emily?" She lowered her gun, shoving it back in her belt.

Michael grinned, "Emily is perfectly fine."

"MOMMY!" The little girl burst through the trees and ran into her mothers arms, "I missed you so much. I love you."

"I love you too. You're okay? You aren't hurt, no one did anything to you?" She let her go, looking her over. She brushed her hair back and pressed her lips against her forehead. She looked up at Michael. He'd brought her back, safe and sound, "thank you so much, for everything."

Michael shook his head, a slight smile on his face, "Viox, there's something I've wanted to do for a long time. And I was going to do this in a different place, closer to home. And I was going to ask differently, but I can't wait and see if there's ever a normal time to do it." He got down on one knee, pulling the ring out of his pocket, "I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So Viox Creed, will you marry me?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but never got to, as a gunshot rang out and she fell to the ground.

Emily stared, wide eyed at the blood pooling on her mothers chest, "Mommy?" Jack ran through the woods and picked her up, turning her away. She struggled for a moment to turn and look again, then saw the man standing there. She shoved out of Jacks grasp and ran at him. He frowned and turned, running back into the woods. Jack ran after her, calling Hannah.

Michael crawled towards her, "Viox? Oh god Viox, don't die, don't die, don't die. He grabbed her wrist, feeling for a pulse, pressed his ear against her chest. "Don't die, don't be dead, oh god don't be dead," he picked her up, holding her body close up to his face and sobbing. She was gone, just like that she was gone.

.~.~.~.~.~

Giovanni turned, nausea rising in his chest as Ian fired.

Keri didn't have time to move.

So Silver pushed her.

He staggered, and fell as the bullet slammed into his body. He stared up, eyes swimming. He'd never been _shot_ before. Sure he'd been _shot at_, but that was an entirely different experience. And he'd always escaped with minimal damage. He blinked, the sound around him muffled, was someone screaming? He took a slow breath, pressing his hand against the place where the bullet had entered, feeling the blood bubble around his palm, and picking it up again, seeing the bright red. Suddenly everything came into a sharp focus. He squeezed his eyes shut, "oh God that hurts."

"Oh god, Silver, oh god. Don't die, don't die on me," Keri was sobbing, kneeling on the ground next to him, unsure of what to do.

Giovanni stared, eyes wide, and so did Ian. Keri looked up at Giovanni, suddenly focusing, "DO SOMETHING!" She screamed, ripping her own pack off and pulling out an extra shirt. She unzipped Silver's coat, tearing her shirt and pressing the cloth against his stomach. Giovanni whipped out a phone, pressing a button, "get down here now. Trace my phone." He ran over, kneeling on Silvers other side, glad that Ian had always been a lousy shot. "You're going to be okay son, you're going to be okay. We're going to get you out of here."

None of them noticed that Ian hadn't moved, and the man took a slow breath, feeling the sharp point digging into his back. "David picked the lock, didn't he?"

Sterling stared past him, tears streaming down her face, "drop the gun, or I'll stab you."

Ian almost laughed, "you're going to kill me, are you?"

"No. I'm going to cut through your spine. When that happens you can't walk, ever. Even if I don't get through your spine, it's going to hurt. A lot. I can't kill someone. It's wrong to kill people. This is wrong too, but it's better than letting you hurt them more."

"You have a disturbing sense of justice," he growled, dropping the gun. "Now what?"

"I don't know."

"You can't stand like that forever."

Sterling frowned... "MOM!"

Keri jolted up, looking towards Sterling. She could barely see her behind that man... She stroked Silvers face, desperation in her eyes, and stood up, running across the field, "Sterling? Baby?"

Sterling swallowed hard, "I'm behind him mommy."

Keri slowed, pulling out her own gun and aiming it at the mans head. She had killed three people today, who had shot at her. She could kill another, "don't move," she snarled at him. "Sterling, you can come out now."

She stepped out from behind him. As soon as she was just a few feet away from Keri she dropped the knife, tears streaming down her face, "Mommy, I want to go home."

"I know. I know baby, so do I."

"Is Daddy going to be okay?" She asked, staring across the field.

Keri took a deep breath, "Grandpa called someone, they're going to pick him up and take him to a hospital."

"But is he going to be okay?"

Keri looked down at her, tears beginning to form in her eyes again... "I don't know," she sobbed, getting down on her knees and wrapping her arms around Sterling, dropping the gun. "I don't know."

Ian backed away slowly, his Luxray following just as quietly. He waited until he was out in the flying snow, and turned and ran back to the camp. He motioned to the first guard he saw, "a helicopter is going to be flying over soon. Leave it alone. I want you to go and get that woman I was interrogating and escort her half a mile out of camp. Some people will be there, leave her with them. If they try to get into the camp, except the little girl, kill them." He stalked through the camp, ignoring the men and woman as they panicked, pretending to have just been in the huts for a minute. He shoved open the door to David's hut. "That was a stupid thing you did."

"You can't hurt her. I knew she would be safe."

"And she's going to come back and rescue you?"

David shook his head, "she said she would. I know she can't. You won't let her, her parents won't either. It's okay."

Ian scowled, taking two steps inside, and then turning and walking out, slamming the door shut. He would deal with the boy later.

.~.~.~.~.~

"Take me instead, I don't care, just don't let her die. Bring her back. Bring her back," he wiped his eyes, holding her against him.

"_I cannot bring her back inside of that body. I do not have the power to fix the damage that was done._"

Michael looked up, seeing the bright white Pokemon, "I don't care. Just please. Take me instead if you have to, just don't let her die."

"_As you wish,_" he stepped forward, tails waving. Michael laid her body down, sitting up on his knees. The Ninetails pressed a paw against his chest, and Michael passed out, collapsing into the snow. "_She will live Michael, and so shall you. Now rest. You have all been through too much in the past days._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver stroked Sterling's face, "hey, I'm going to make it, okay? Grandpa is going to come with me, but you have to stay with mommy. The helicopter won't carry everyone." He glanced at Giovanni, not surprised about it, but wondering why his father had a stretcher inside of his helicopter.

Sterling hugged his arm, "I love you daddy."

"I love you too Sterling. I have to go now, okay?" He met Keri's eyes, and then pulled his arm away from Sterling, "I'll see you in a couple days, I promise." Sterling nodded, and Giovanni swung the door shut.

"She's stronger than you are."

Silver groaned as the helicopter lifted off the ground, sick from the movement. After a few seconds he took a couple deep and painful breaths, "I know," Silver grimaced, biting back pain, "we aren't going to a real hospital, are we?"

Giovanni shook his head, "I never got properly set up in this region. We have to go to a hospital. The closest one just happens to be at the Ranger Union HQ."

"They'll kill you."

Giovanni shook his head again, "there aren't many people who are quite that heartless. And none of them work at the Union Headquarters."

Silver smirked, "no. All of them work for you," he smiled, and then grimaced in pain again. "Oh God this hurts," he dug his fingers into his palm.

"Just a few more minutes son. Hold on for just a few more minutes."

.~.~.~.~.~

Emily tripped, and fell, but she only paused a moment to look at what she'd tripped over. A dead body. She ground her teeth and yanked the gun out of his belt, and turned to run again, able to follow his footprints in the snow. She paused for another second, seeing the mans gun laying in the snow. He must have run out of bullets. Stupid. She finally came to the edge of the woods, and stepped out. The snow was falling more gently out here than on the other side of the woods. Emily cocked the pistol, and held it up, aimed perfectly at Andrew. He smirked, and turned around. Just a few steps away was the edge of the cliff. "Are you going to shoot me?" He mocked, grinning.

Emily kept a serious frown on her face, "yes. I'm going to kill you."

Andrews face fell, fear replacing the mocking in his eye. This child was seriously going to shoot him. She was going to kill him.

"Emily NO!" Jack raced out of the trees, his own gun out and pointed at Hess.

"Why not? Why does it matter who does it?" She snarled, "he killed my mom. When Michael was going to marry her, when we were finally going to be a real family."

"It matters because you've never killed someone before."

"I know _how_."

"It's not something you can take back. Emily, it's something you'll regret for the rest of your life."

"No," she said calmly, her eyes burning, "I won't."

Jack looked at her, fear clenching in his stomach. She really meant it. She wanted to kill him. Jack cocked his gun, "_Hannah, I don't know what to do._"

"_Keep her innocent,_" Just words, no emotion. He knew that Hannah was scared, even with her blocking him out. She didn't want him to kill again, he didn't want to kill again. Jack looked back over to Emily, her hands weren't even shaking. He lifted the pistol, aimed straight at Andrew's heart, "you might live longer if you go back to jail."

Andrew Hess smiled. If he tried to get out of this place, he was sure to be killed by someone working for Ian. He was positive that Jack could take him to jail, but what kind of existence would that be? To spend the last days of his life in a cell, trapped like the rat he knew he was? No. Not again, "I don't think so." He spun around and both Jack and Emily fired, as he threw himself off the cliff.

Emily stepped over to the edge, leaning over, "he got away." Below was a river, moving too quickly for ice to form on top of. It was a long drop down.

Jack placed a hand gently on her shoulder, "sometimes it's better that they do."

She trembled, and dropped the gun, "I led him to her, didn't I? It's all my fault. If I had stayed in the castle, he never would have found her."

Jack crouched down, "look at me Emily." She turned her head away, "Emily, look at me." She finally turned her head, looking him in the eyes. "This is _not_ your fault. You didn't choose to come out here, and you didn't know what he wanted. The only one who is at fault here is Andrew Hess, no one else. You're six, you aren't old enough for any of this to be your fault."

Emily stared at him for a few more seconds, then looked away again, "she's still dead."

"_You are young._"

Emily turned around, seeing no one there, "Jack?"

"_I tell you this now. Your path is hard, but it is yours alone. That does not mean, however, that you have to walk it alone. It is time to go home, Emily. Take comfort in those who love you._"

Jack placed a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eye, "relax. It's just a friend. I don't know what he said to you, and I don't want to know. He did tell me that Hannah is waiting for you at the edge of the woods, and so is Ethan. She'll take you back to the boat."

Emily nodded, fear shining in her eyes. She backed up a step and turned around, looking back at the edge of the woods. He nodded to her, and she stepped through the trees. Jack shut his eyes and sighed, feeling Hannah walking further away. He opened them again, to see a Ninetales standing there, bright white tails waving slowly, "the boy?"

Ninetales nodded once, "_you are the first. He is the key._"

Jack frowned, eyebrows scrunching together, "I never like it when you act all cryptic."

The Pokemon chuckled, "_his path cannot be dictated. Teach him, as well as you can, but what you teach and what he chooses may well be two different things. What is right and what is wrong in this world, Jack Rain?Can you make poor choices, and still be a good person? Can you make good choices, and still have evil in your heart? You chose what you saw as the better of two sides, yet you still found yourself dying. Hannah is pure, she has an untainted heart. She did not choose a side, she only chose you. As you chose her. Ethan cannot be tainted by what he sees or hears, the good side or the bad side. He is only affected by what he feels is the right thing to do. What happened at the castle was not an isolated incident, although it will be the first he remembers. And it will torment him for years, and ultimately shape his life._" Ninetales stood, and paced for a second, "_I was not going to tell you as much. I came only to tell you that Ethan must not be separated from his friends. Sterling is a strong guiding force, and will hold up what little confidence he has. Emily..._"

Jack watched the creature pace, and felt somewhat disturbed, "what about Emily?"

He stopped pacing, and sat down in the snow again, meeting Jack's eyes. He let out a puff of breath in a sigh, "s_he is his best friend. Separating them, for any reason, would... it would be very bad._"

Jack was surprised enough that he almost laughed, almost. Instead he just stared at the Ninetales for a few seconds. He finally spoke, "it would be very bad? That's very... flat. For you."

Ninetales gave the equivalent of a shrug, "_I will not tell you more. I do not like the phrasing, but your language is limited. I have spoken to his family, and they had already accepted the fact that he would need to live with a human. They only want to go with him. When you believe the boy is ready to know of me, call. If you need anything, both you and Hannah can contact me._" He stood, and stepped silently towards the woods, disappearing at their edge.

"_What did he want?_" Hannah asked, showing him that Emily and Ethan were both okay, at least physically.

"_Hannah, Ethan is definitely... something. I don't know what, I don't think I ever will, but..._" Jack sighed and shook his head, "_he's never spoken that candidly before. He told me that Ethan couldn't be separated from his friends. He said to teach him as best as I could. Honestly, I'm completely terrified of this now._"

Hannah laughed, "_you're terrified? Come on Jack, how hard could raising a kid be?_"

.~.~.~.~.~

"_Michael... what happened?_"

Michael took a sharp breath, the air jumping into his lungs, his heart beating too quickly. It was a dream. He curled in on himself. It had to be a dream, because- "_I'm not dead... Michael, what happened? I know... I was... somewhere._"

Michael opened his eyes, everything rushing back. He sat up, touching the spot on his chest. He looked to his right. A Gardevoir, with sharp gray eyes, stared back. Her hair was long, and instead of the Pokemon's typical green it was pitch black. Viox. "_Look dammit, just tell me what the hell is going on! I feel different, I-_" her eyes widened, and she looked at the backs of her hands, then the palms. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly.

Michael tentatively touched her mind, it was just like Jack had explained... "_Viox?_"

She stared up at him, "_Michael, why am I a Pokemon?_"

"_I... I don't know._"

"_What am I going to do? What about Emily! What... what about you?_"

"_I don't see how it changes anything,_" he inched closer to her, a little nervous.

She shot a glare at him, "_How does it not change _everything_!_"

"_Viox,_" he picked up one of her hands, holding it gently. They were so much smaller than they had been before... He looked up at her, looking her in the eyes, the same eyes, her eyes, "_for once, I think that everything is going to be okay. They're going to be different, but everything is going to be fine... Viox, I would still like an answer._"

"_Michael! Look at me, I'm a _Pokemon_!_"

He shook his head slowly, and used his other hand to brush a piece of hair back from her face, "_doesn't matter. You're still Viox. And I don't care what anyone else says, or how they look at me. I still love you. I always will. I think I always have._"

She lifted her other arm, looking at it. Was this who she was now? She looked back up at him, seeing her reflection in his crystal blue eyes, "_but I thought... you only stayed because of Emily._"

"_Viox, do you remember that first night at the hotel? What happened there? What you told me? I didn't stay just because of Emily. She was a huge part of it, yes. And so was looking for Keri and Jack. That all helped, but I stayed because of you. Because every time I would leave, I would think about you constantly. Because I saw you on that beach, and instead of being afraid, I was just worried that you were hurt. Because I would go to work, and I would come home, and check off another day on the calendar, waiting until I could see you again. It took me a long time to realize why I kept thinking about you, kept coming back. It took me even longer to tell you. Viox, I've been there for you every single moment you've called. Every time you've needed me. That isn't going to change. Not now. Not ever,_" he opened his palm, the ring shone in the light reflecting off the snow. "Because I love you. So please Viox... Marry me?"

She looked down at herself again, then looked back at him, reaching up and brushing his face with her hand, and letting it slide down onto his neck. He shut his eyes, breathing in deep. She could feel the slight shiver go down his spine. The exact same reaction she had gotten so many times before... She lifted her other hand, still encased in his, and slid her arm around his back. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She let her head rest on his shoulder for a moment, then slid her hand to his chest, pressing against him slightly and looking up. He was looking her right in the eye. She shut hers and pressed her lips against his. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and moved back a couple inches. Michael brushed a piece of her hair back again, a slight smile on his face, "_does that mean yes?_"

She leaned against him again, "_yes Michael. That means yes._"

.~.~.~.~.~

Keri paced in the snow, Sterling watching her. She paused, feeling her boot hit something hard, and she looked down. The knife... that Sterling had bee using. Where had she gotten it? Keri reached down and picked it up, sliding it into her pocket. Sterling looked past her, seeing something moving, "mom, someone is over there."

Keri stopped, waiting for a moment for the figure to focus. Madison stepped into view, a small smile on her face, "hey Keri."

"Madison? What happened to you!" Keri ran over, grabbing the woman and letting her lean on her.

She grimaced, then let relief flood her face at seeing Sterling, "we were kidnapped. I would be much worse right now if it weren't for Sterling. For some reason Mr. Crazy in there, wouldn't hurt her. Would barely look at her. Sterling convinced his people not to kill me. Sterling, I saw what you said to that boy. You can't go back there, not yet. They will kill you."

Sterling nodded, "I know."

Keri frowned, looking over at her, "what do you mean?"

Sterling walked over, "there's a boy in there named David. He's been hurt, and I promised I would come back and get him. I can't though, can I?"

Keri looked back in the direction that Madison had come from, "no. Not yet," she slid a hand through her hair, "we'll try though." She slid the knife out of her pocket, looking at it, "did he give this to you?"

Sterling nodded, "he said I would need it. He... knew where I was going."

Keri made sure that Madison could stand, then crouched down in front of Sterling. She wrapped the blade in an unbloodied piece of cloth from the shirt she'd torn up, "take it by the handle. I want you to always keep that on you, unless I say otherwise, or your father does. There are a lot of things I should have told you a long time ago. I wanted to wait until you were older, but I owe you an explanation. Where your dad was for six years, how we met, and why we're wearing these uniforms."

Sterling took the weapon slowly, and took off her pack and slid it inside just as slowly. She looked back up at her mother, "the uniform doesn't matter. Where he was doesn't matter. I just want to go home, I want to go to school, and play with Ethan and Emily. I want to come home after and have Daddy tell me more about Pokemon."

Keri wrapped her in a hug, and Sterling hugged her tightly back, "we'll go home soon," she looked up at Madison, who nodded. "But first we need to visit Silver in the hospital."

Madison grimaced, "I hope you're not planning on going inside dressed like that."

Keri stood slowly, holding Sterling's hand, "I just tore my other shirt to shreds. The third one is covered in blood, and I know that you don't have anything that fits me. So yes. I'm going in dressed like this."

Sterling looked up at them, "the Rangers are going to be really mad, aren't they?"

XOX

Yes, yes they are.

And yeah. What happens in this chapter... I've had this planned out since about the eighth chapter of Silvers Kiss.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Michael looked up at the boat, Mr. Briney was standing, staring down at him, "Jack and Emily and that weird little boy, and everyone else, got here hours ago! What took you so long? Jack has been having a fit."

Michael grimaced, "nice to see you too. Where are Madison and Nathan?"

"Madison is at the hospital, some really pissed off looking rangers came and picked her up. Nathan is making soup. Well, you had better get up here. Your hammock is all set up, although it's probably been taken," he threw down a rope latter. "Sorry you have to climb."

Michael glanced back towards the woods, "_What do you want to do?_"

She looked at the boat, then back at him, "_they saw me die. The only thing to do is just go ahead._" She frowned, concentrating, and felt the world around her press in and disappear for a second, then she stumbled next to Michael, falling over. He caught her and helped her stand up. "_I got a lot closer that time... I think I'm going to walk for now though. Teleporting is overrated._"

Michael smiled, she hadn't changed at all. She gave him an incredulous look, shaking her head. She stepped forward, watching her feet, still getting used to her body. It didn't feel as cold as it had before, but the snow beneath her feet still made her shiver. She grabbed the rope latter and pulled herself up. Michael followed, smiling at the familiar deck. Then he frowned. The boat had been cramped with just seven people before, "this is going to be insane."

Viox glanced around. She'd been on the boat once, while explaining to Madison and Nathan what she was doing. It looked like it had been through a lot since then, or maybe that was just the ice caked to the deck. Michael pushed the door on the deck open and descended the stairs, Viox following slowly. He paused at the bottom of the stairs, looking around. Nathan looked worried, and was stirring something in a pot on the stove. Emily, Sterling, and Ethan were sitting in a circle on the floor, playing what looked like go-fish. Keri was laying in a hammock, biting her lip. She didn't seem to notice anything that was going on. A boy with a haunter floating by his shoulder and a girl with bright pink hair were sitting on a couch, that looked like it had been bolted to the floor, talking in murmurs. Jack was pacing next to the desks, a dark expression on his face, until he looked up, relief replacing the look in his eyes, "thank God you're here. Those woods are still crawling, and we have to get out of here."

Michael nodded slowly, a slightly grim expression on his face. The kids looked up at him, and Emily looked away, staring hard at her cards. Ethan frowned, "who's behind you?"

Viox stepped into view, glancing around the ship. It seemed like someone was missing... Silver. She glanced at Keri, then at Sterling, who was glancing between her and Emily. She was still staring at the cards. Jack stared at her for a moment, then looked at Michael. He mouthed her name, and Michael nodded. Jack slowly sat down at one of the desks. Michael walked further into the room. Viox stepped up behind Emily, kneeling and resting a hand on her shoulder. Nathan turned to see her crouched there, "Viox?"

She shut her eyes and nodded. Emily stiffened, staring straight ahead. Viox took a deep breath, looking over to Ethan. The boy. He was all Emily would talk about fifty percent of the time. She felt him connect to her... "_you died_."

Viox nodded, "_I know. Ethan, tell her it's me._"

He scrunched his eyebrows together, "_why are you a Pokemon now?_"

"_I don't know. Please Ethan... she trusts you more than anyone._"

He nodded, and Emily frowned at him. He looked her in the eyes, "Emily, it's your mom."

She almost shivered, because she hadn't just heard it with her ears. She'd heard it inside her head too, and her heart. She didn't though. She shut her eyes, grinding her hands into fists. People didn't come back. Once they were dead they were dead. No matter what the stories said, when someone died, they stayed that way. She opened her eyes and turned to look at her. It didn't look like her, but Emily looked at her eyes. Mom had always said that you could tell who someone was, and what they were thinking, through their eyes. Emily stared at them. They were the exact same eyes. Her moms eyes. She was so confused. She looked at Michael, and Jack, who was standing nearby, staring. She turned to look at Ethan. He locked eyes with her again, "it's okay Emily."

Emily threw herself into her mothers arms, sobbing.

.~.~.~.~.~

Silver took a breath, hearing a funny noise, and blinked once, twice, and winced at a light right above the bed he was laying on, "why do they insist on putting those damn things there?" He growled. He turned his head and blinked his eyes open, listening to Keri laugh. He didn't have to see her to know it was her. He could recognize it. He looked at her anyway, and smirked, "did I ever tell you how much I hate hospitals?" He said quietly, feeling exhausted. He wondered just how stupid that was. He'd just woken up, and he felt completely exhausted.

She crouched down on the floor, next to the bed, and stroked his face, "yeah. I remember because you had absolutely no idea what my name was." She pressed her lips against his, breathing him in, opening her mouth gently and sliding her fingers up the side of his neck and into his hair. He heard the monitor speed up, and laughed a little. Keri pulled away, "I'm going to enjoy hearing that."

"Good. Do it again."

Keri smiled, kissed him again, "you saved my life." She mumbled.

Silver let his head rest on the pillow, he shut his eyes, "and I'd do it over and over again. I love you."

Keri stroked his hair, "I know."

"Next time someone shoots at you, I'm going to make sure they end up dead," he growled.

Keri shook her head, "Sterling almost made sure of that for you."

Silver's eyes snapped open, and he stared at her, "WHAT!"

She pressed a finger to her lips, "Sterling, after you got shot, held that man at knifepoint until I got over there, to hold him at gunpoint. I wanted to kill him. I couldn't, not in front of her... God Silver, what are we going to do?"

He stared up at the ceiling, to the right of the florescent light. He took a short breath and let it out in a sigh, "did you make her keep the knife?"

"Yeah."

Silver shut his eyes, "stupid. I should be terrified. I'm just glad she has something to protect herself with. Most parents would probably freak out about their kid carrying a knife around. And I would teach her how to use it right."

"Silver, what the hell makes you think we'd be normal parents?"

He opened his eyes and rolled them at her, "absolutely nothing. You know, they pulled that bullet out and did some sort of surgery, and said I almost died? And all I can think about is how much pain I'm in. And I keep trying to make escape plans. Do you have any idea how many hospitals I've had to escape from?"

Keri frowned, "you aren't escaping from this one. I'll tie you down if I have to."

Silver smirked, "really? And what are you going to do after you tie me down?"

Keri flushed. Silver just looked at her. She had almost died. She looked in his eyes, blush fading. They stayed like that, staring at one another, for a long time, until a nurse walked in. "Oh good you're awake! I'll go tell everyone."

Something almost like fear flashed in his eyes, "everyone?"

Keri grimaced, "yeah. Everyone. Including Giovanni."

"They're just letting him sit in the waiting room?" He asked, slightly incredulous. Keri didn't get a chance to answer though.

Sterling was through the door first, grabbing his arm and hugging it, then trying to climb up on the bed, "Daddy!"

He winced and moved over a little, stopping her from actually climbing on top of him, and the others from picking her up off the bed, "that may be the best thing I have ever heard." He wrapped an arm around her. Sterling wrapped her arms around his neck. He looked up at everyone crowded in the room, "isn't there some rule or something that says only three people can be in here at once?"

Jack smirked, "yes. We all decided to ignore it. They threatened to call hospital security. We threatened to shoot them."

Silver shut his eyes for a second, "wonderful. Once I'm better they're probably going to arrest me. Thanks."

Michael smiled, "nope. They aren't arresting anyone. Actually, they seem pretty eager to get us all out of here. They don't believe it, but they have us all down as family members. Otherwise they would have kicked most of out hours ago."

Silver raised an eyebrow at Michael, and then frowned seeing the Gardevoir standing next to him, "please tell me that isn't Viox."

Anya grinned, "We're a very messed up family."

Silver glanced over at her, "oh good. You dyed your hair something natural looking."

"Yeah. Well, after we got here they said it was going to be a few hours, and one of the rangers had a bottle of black dye. So I went with it. She felt sorry for me when Giovanni threatened to chop it all off again."

A boy he didn't recognize was leaning against the wall, and a haunter was talking to him. Silver leaned back against his pillow, "well. I suppose it could be worse."

Anya frowned at him, "what?"

"Choosing between the room full of people I know, and am not entirely sure how I feel about," he motioned to Jack, "and no one being here at all, I think I like this better. For once in my life."

Jack frowned at him, "what did I do?"

"Disappeared in the middle of a mission, oh, and I'm still mad about that thing on the boat."

"That was six years ago."

"I should have punched you harder."

"You should be nice to me. Our kids are friends."

Silver looked up at him, "One, when did you get a kid? And two, the relationship of our children has absolutely nothing to with how I feel about you personally."

Jack motioned to Ethan, who was sitting on Hannah's back, "turns out they're really easy to get."

"If Keri hadn't threatened to tie me down, I would get up and punch you."

Keri shrugged, "go ahead."

"How about no?" Michael growled, glaring at Keri.

"You should stay in bed." Sterling said, a worried frown on her face.

Silver sighed, "well that's the final word. I can't get up. I'm not allowed."

Giovanni stepped into the room. Silver glared at him, then just frowned. "Hi."

He frowned back, "hi."

Everyone else began to slowly file out of the room. Anya stopped in the doorway, "would you two just say something mushy already?"

Silver glared at her, "just because you're my sister doesn't mean you can stand there and tell me what to do. Get out of here."

Sterling looked up, "do I have to go?"

Keri picked her up, sitting with her on the hard plastic chair next to the bed, "no."

Giovanni sat down on the chair opposite hers, on the other side of the bed, "I thought you were against her whole crazy brother sister thing?"

Silver would have shrugged. Instead he winced slightly as a sharp pain went through his stomach, "yeah. I gave up. Your friend is a lousy shot."

"I'm glad."

Silver nodded, "yeah. Me too."

"I'm sorry."

Silver sighed... "it wasn't your fault."

Giovanni shut his eyes, "It was."

Silver ground his teeth for a second, "where do you get off blaming yourself for all of this? I'm the last person on earth who should even be _considering_ forgiving you, so just... stop. Okay? I'm sick of the games and the blaming. Keri could have died. If I hadn't taken that bullet, she would have. You couldn't take a bullet. You didn't even know what was going on until it was too late. So just, shut up," he turned to look at Sterling, "do not ever speak to me or your grandfather that way, do you understand?"

She nodded, a little wide eyed.

Giovanni smirked, "you know I still can't give up Team Rocket."

Silver sighed, "I know. Just... keep us out of it. Besides, what would bored trainers do without you?"

"Die a lot less."

"Yeah, okay. That's true," Silver muttered. "Look, you aren't making this as easy as I'd like it to be."

"Nothing is as easy as we'd like it to be," Giovanni said, leaning back and taking a deep breath. "This is going to take a lot of work."

"So, don't you have to get out of here before something happens?"

Giovanni shrugged, "well, they had this Ranger named Sven watching my every move. He disappeared off somewhere though, so no. I can leave whenever I want. After explaining what happened, they don't really know what to do."

"Grandpa, are you going to stay here? In Almia?" Sterling asked, wriggling down from Keri's lap and looking at him from the other side of the bed, standing on her toes.

Giovanni looked at Silver, and then at Keri, "for once that's not up to me." He looked at her standing there, eyes pleading. "Sterling, there's some things that you should know about me."

Sterling nodded, "that's what mommy said. I think I know what it is though. It's Team Rocket, right?"

Giovanni smirked, "yeah. I run it. I've done a lot of things I shouldn't be proud of, but I am anyway."

Sterling seemed to take a few minutes to process this. Her Grandpa was the one who controlled Team Rocket. She frowned. That meant that a lot of people had been hurt because of him. A lot of people were dead. She smirked at him, "the difference between good guys and bad guys isn't very clear, is it? Because this time you were one of the good guys, but most of the time you're the enemy, aren't you?"

"You have phenomenal vocabulary and annunciation for a six year old," Giovanni stated. "You're right, I'm normally one of the bad guys. Your dad is normally one of the good guys, although everyone thought he was a bad guy. Your mom used to be one of the bad guys, but is one of the good guys now, even though she still has friends in Team Rocket. To say the least, it's complicated."

Sterling nodded, "I don't think I want to know right now. I'm six. I don't want to think about it, I just want to be a kid. Oh, and what do the words phenomenal and annunciation mean?" She said the worse carefully, making sure she pronounced the right.

Silver stroked her hair, "thank god for that." he muttered under his breath. No one heard what he said, but they were all thinking the same thing. "Phenomenal means the same thing as Great, but it's a little better than Great. Annunciation is how clearly you speak, so people can understand you."

Giovanni chuckled, "you know," he said, then just let it trail off.

Both Silver and Keri looked at him, "what?" Silver asked.

Giovanni smirked, "it's just... I swear, she is exactly like you were when you were six. And you aren't exactly easy to handle. This is the best payback I could ever get, because if she's anything like you, the next few years of your life are going to be a nightmare."

Silver frowned, thinking this over a little bit. Keri seemed to have grown slightly pale. He shut his eyes, "that is the most terrifying thing you could have said to me at this point."

"I know. I'm going to get out of here. As soon as they release you, tell them to send me the bill."

Silver bit back the retort that they could pay and sighed, "okay. Thanks... Dad."

Giovanni stopped and turned to look at him, "you haven't called me that in a long time."

"You haven't acted like it in a long time."

XOX

One more piece and then this is over.

Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.

Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.

Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.

Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.

Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.

Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.

Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.

Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.

I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.


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